A Temporal Anomoly
by Knites
Summary: This story is set one year after the episode Destroyer. Huntress is fading out of existence and it's up to the rest of the JLU and the Teen Titans to save her. I do not own these characters. I'm just glad to have a place to write this story.
1. Back in the League

Dinah Lance a.k.a. Black Canary threw two quick punches at the large FOREVERLAST punching bag. She followed with another pair of strong punches and then a kick. Each attack was straight and true, worthy of the skilled boxer her mentor Wild Cat trained her to be. Then she jumped up into the air, her blonde hair flying wildly on her head, and delivered a flying roundhouse kick to the top of the bag. The attack made the bag swing out of control on the end of its heavy chain and the chain jangle loudly.

"Nice," said Helena Bertinelli a.k.a Huntress who was working out on an exercise bike and watching Black Canary attack the bag at the same time.

Black Canary caught the bag and steadied it. "Thanks. It's great were both on the night shift tonight," Black Canary said.

"Yeah, I guess," Huntress said with a touch of discomfort, and she looked away. Huntress' was still getting used to her new and growing friendship with Black Canary. Black Canary knew this and let the reply pass. After all, when the two first met, Black Canary along with Green Arrow stood between Huntress and her attempts to murder Steven Madragora-the white-haired man-mountain mob boss who killed Huntress' parents. The vendetta cost Huntress her membership in the Justice League, but she did not let that stop her from continuing to pursue Manragora. The two heroines ended up battling each other, with Huntress coming up on the losing end. Things did work out for the best, however. Steven Mandragora was put behind bars after Huntress, with help from the enigmatic hero The Question, realized she wanted justice and not revenge. Yes, things had worked out for the better, but Black Canary was sure Huntress hated her from then on. Black Canary was proved wrong, however, when the criminal mastermind Roulette, with the help of Lex Luthor, took control of female Justice League members and pitted them against each other in her Meta Brawl Glamour Slam fighting arena. Huntress discovered the plot, freed Black Canary, and the two of them took down Roulette and her organization. Black Canary was grateful for Huntress' help and Huntress revealed she knew Black Canary would have done the same had their positions been reversed. Black Canary offered to get Huntress reinstated in the Justice League, but Huntress turned her down. It was then their friendship began.

"Hey, since it's just the two of us here, are you finally going tell me why you decided to rejoin the League? I think I've been patient enough," Black Canary said.

"It was Question—and Darksied," Huntress said still not looking at Black Canary.

"You sleep with Darkseid too?" said Black Canary, with an expression of mock horror. She flinched as Huntress' sweat towel hit her in the face.

"Ha-Ha," Huntress said.

Black Canary laughed. Then she felt silent and gave her friend and expectant look.

Huntress acquiesced. "During Darkseid's attack on Earth last year, I found myself alone trying to protect myself and a family of five against a dozen of his parademons. There were too many for me to stop alone. One of them would have torn into the family's little girl and then the rest of them if Question, Hawk, Dove, and Creeper hadn't shown up," Huntress said.

'I joked with Question afterwards saying I could have handled the situation on my own. Question didn't laugh. All he said was no man or woman is an island. Then, later, when Darkseid was defeated, he suggested I take you up on your offer to help me get back into the league," Huntress said.

"How'd he know about my offer?" Black Canary said.

"I told him, right after he told me about him being controlled by Brainstorm a while back, before I joined the league the first time."

"The guy with the helmet that can hypnotize people?" Black Canary said.

"The same," Huntress said. "I asked Question why he hadn't humored me earlier. Question told me Brainstorm used him to plant bombs in the Watchtower and manipulated him so he suspected every leaguer but himself of the deed. Brainstorm used Question's isolation, unwillingness to trust, and his lack of friends—the things Question thought made him strong—against him. Ultimately, these characteristics made Question a weak link, a perfect target. Brainstorm would have gotten away with his scheme too if J'onn hadn't stopped Question and then, together, they stopped Brainstorm."

"Wow," Black Canary said.

"I reflected on Question's story and realized he was right. So, I contacted you the next night and now, thanks to your advocacy, here I am," Huntress said.

"I see," Black Canary said.

Suddenly, J'onn J'onzz's voice filled Huntress' ear. "Huntress, please report to the medical wing immediately."

Huntress put her finger on the mini communicator in her ear. "Can it wait, J'onn? I'm in the middle of my workout here," Huntress said.

"I'm afraid not, Huntress. Now that you have rejoined the league, we need to update your medical file as soon as possible," the Martian said.

Huntress considered pressing the issue, but remembered she had promised The Question and herself to play things a little more by the book. "Okay, J'onn, I'm on my way. I'll just take a quick shower, before we play doctor."

J'onn was silent on the other end, and then Huntress heard the small click that told her J'onn had ended their communication.

Huntress smiled. "Hmm, he's from Mars, Do you think he got the joke?"

Black Canary smiled. "All men are from Mars, Huntress. What did J'onn want?"

"To update my medical file," Huntress said.

"Oh, well, with all the stuff that can happen in our line of work, that's pretty important,* Black Canary said.

"Despite how boring it sounds?" Huntress said.

"Yeah," Black Canary said with a smile. Tell you what, hit the showers, give J'onn the info he needs, and then let's get some dinner in the commissary." Black Canary said. She tossed Huntress' sweat towel back to her.

Huntress caught the towel. "Sounds good," she said and headed for the locker room.

X X X

"That's it?" Huntress said from behind her purple eye-mask.

"Yes," J'onn said. 'I just needed you to review the health questions we asked you during your first time with the league. Even though you were dismissed, we kept your data on file."

"You fired me, but didn't give up on me, huh?"

"Not totally," J'onn said. He gave her a small smile.

Huntress smiled back, but then her shoulders dropped. "J'onn, about before, you were right to move Mandragora. I shouldn't have tried to kill him. I was just so angry. I wanted revenge so badly I forgot everything else that was important. Must be something in my blood I got from my father, he was the vengeful sort."

"Water under the bridge," J'onn said. "Just make sure it stays there."

"Sure," Huntress said.

"Now, if you'll take off your glove, I just need to take a current DNA sample, and you can go," J'onn said.

Huntress did as J'onn asked. J'onn took her hand and put her finger in a stapler-like device. She flinched expecting it to pinch, but it did not.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Huntress said as she pulled back on her glove. 'If you need anything else, just give me a call."

"I will," J'onn said.

Huntress walked out of the examination room. Her purple cape flowed lightly behind her as she moved. The door hissed shut behind her.

J'onn wasted no time entering Huntress' new data into the Metro Tower computer. He included her DNA sample as well. He smiled. The Justice League medical data base was now completely up to date. He said, "Computer, begin donor sorting program." Then, he sat in a chair and waited.

The 'sorting program' J'onn had written and was running now linked all the Justice League members in terms of biology. If another league member needed a kidney, or a blood transfusion, bone marrow transplant, or something else because of an injury in battle or some other reason, another hero whose blood and organs were compatible with the injured party, could be found instantly.

This program was just one of many things J'onn had done for the Metro Tower and Watch Tower medical wings. Ever since his return to active duty, J'onn had asked to spend more time in the medical wing to attend to duties there, and leave the bulk of mission moderator duties to Mr. Terrific. J'onn had spent quite a while regaining his connection with humanity, and he felt this change in duties would better help him maintain it. His new schedule also allowed him to return home to his beloved Bo Hua (Precious Flower) in China, usually in time for dinner. He smiled. His life on Earth meant so much more now that there was someone special to share it with.

When the program was finished running, J'onn brought up Huntress' file to make sure her data was sorted along with all the other Justice League members. It had been. He scanned the list of donors compatible with her. When his eyes fell on two names, His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. "That's impossible!" he said.


	2. What's not Happend?

"That's impossible," The Batman said.

J'onn looked the Batman in the eye as best he could. Even though they were friends, there was still something about The Dark Knight that put J'onn on edge. "I thought so too, which is why I've been running tests for the last three days. All have turned up positive. At first, I thought I should tell all three of you at once, but I knew you would want to investigate this yourself. So, rather than debate the issue with us all present, I decided I'd give you the chance before we let the others know."

"Did you check the computer? It may be malfunctioning," The Batman said.

J'onn nodded. "I did. Everything is working within normal parameters."

The Batman's eyes narrowed.

J'onn handed The Batman a memory stick. "This is all the data I have. I've deleted the information from the computer for now."

The Batman nodded. "Thanks." He turned and started to leave the room. J'onn did not need to use his telepathic abilities to know he was not to breathe a word of this situation to anyone until The Batman spoke to him again.

Suddenly, the examination room's large computer screen lit up. On it was a man with no face, wearing a blue trench coat and fedora. "J'onn, are you there?" The faceless man's voice was anxious. The Batman turned to watch the conversation.

*What is it Question?" J'onn said.

"It's Huntress. Something's wrong. We were just turning some Intergang thugs over to the police, when she screamed and passed out. She's—

"I'll get a transporter-lock on her and bring her here immediately," J'onn said, already accessing the Metro Tower's transporter controls from the examination room console.

"No!" The Question said. You can't. She's fading in and out.

"Of consciousness?" J'onn said.

"Of existence," The Question said.

J'onn looked back at The Batman. The Batman's eyes narrowed. "I'll send a Javelin immediately." J'onn said.

X X X

The red and blue costumed Atom looked up from the visual scanning device he had aimed at the Huntress. She had been placed on one of the Metro-Tower's med-wing's beds. Her body was crackling with energy and fading in and out like a ghost that could not decide whether it should stay or go. She whimpered, clearly in pain.

"She's a temporal anomaly," The Atom said.

"What?" The Question said. His voice was still as anxious as it was when he first contacted J'onn.

"As far as I can tell, she's from the future," The Atom said.

"Impossible," The Question said.

J'onn and Black Canary were also in the room. Black Canary and Green Arrow flew the Javelin, which picked up Huntress and The Question at J'onn's order. Black Canary had insisted on staying in the room while the Atom examined Huntress.

"All my data says different," The Atom said.

"Okay, for the sake of argument, let's assume she is. What can we do to help her?" Jonn said.

"We can use Metro-Tower equipment to generate a tachyon field around her. It will stabilize her in her current condition, but we need to find out what's not going to happen to cause this," The Atom said.

"What do you mean, 'what's not going to happen'?" Black Canary said.

"Exactly that," The Atom said. "Huntress is from the future. Something is not happening now or going to happen the way it should, consequently, Huntress, a human from the future, is disappearing from present existence. We need to find out what the event is and make sure it happens correctly before she fades away completely."

Green Arrow and The Batman were standing in the observation room next to the examination room listening to everything the Atom said through a speaker in the room. "From the future, huh? Just when you think you know someone," Green Arrow said to the dark figure of The Batman standing a few feet away beside him. There was no humor in Green Arrow's voice. The Batman did not acknowledge the green-clad archer's comment. J'onn looked at Batman through the observation window. The Batman just looked back until J'onn looked away.

An hour later after they finished setting up the Tachyon field, J'onn, The Question and The Atom joined The Batman and Green Arrow in the observation room. Black Canary stayed behind with Huntress. "How long do we have to save her before she disappears completely?" J'onn asked.

"I don't know," the Atom said. "That's the strange thing. Usually when an event in the past is changed, it immediately takes effect in the here and now. By all logic, Huntress should no longer exist. However, something is fighting to hold Huntress in this timeline. I'm at a loss to explain it. But, I know this. It won't last forever. Eventually, she will vanish completely and the entire timeline will reset without her ever existing."

There was a crash. The Question had slammed his fist on a cart of instruments, knocking it over. "No! I won't let that happen!" he growled from behind his faceless mask. Then he hurried out the examination room door.

J'onn looked in The Batman's direction again. This time, J'onn did not look away. The Batman stood quiet as a gravestone for a moment. Then, he turned and left.

X X X

The Batman stopped the Batmobile, a sleek super-car as black as pitch, in its parking space within his underground headquarters-a giant hollow in the Earth under the foundation of stately Wayne Manor in Gotham City—a place informally dubbed The Batcave. The real bats that made the cave their home fluttered about in response to the vibrations of the Batmobile's arrival. The Batman exited his vehicle with a metal container in his hand and walked toward the Batcave's main computer. Meanwhile, the Batmobile's mechanical parking space rotated the vehicle one-hundred eighty degrees and readied it for its next trip into the outside world.

The Batman sat in the chair in front of the computer and swiveled it to face the machine's keyboard and large display. He inserted the memory stick J'onn gave him into the computer and accessed the data. There it was on the screen in front of him: three strands of DNA and the Metro Tower's conclusion that two of them were the parents of the third. He went through all the data J'onn had collected, as well as The Atom's examination data. The Batman had downloaded the latter onto the memory stick before leaving the Metro Tower.

The Batman then stood up and walked over to the computer's physical material analysis equipment. He opened a compartment on his utility belt and removed a tiny plastic bag. In it were hairs he had secretly acquired from one of the other league members quarters before leaving the Metro Tower. He then removed his glove and took a fresh sample of his own DNA. He placed them together into the computer's analysis equipment. Finally, he opened the metal container he brought back from the Metro Tower with him. In it was DNA from the Huntress. The special container was fixed with a mini tachyon particle generator to keep the DNA stable in this time line. He removed the DNA sample from the container and placed it in the computer. He hoped it would stay stable long enough for the computer to complete its analysis.

"Computer, isolate DNA from entered samples and compare in terms of parentage." The computer worked as the Batman walked back towards the computer's main display. It took a second for the computer to complete its analysis. There it was. The Batman's computer reached the same conclusion that the Metro Tower's had. His DNA and the other league member's DNA had a ninety nine point nine percent chance of being the source of Huntress' DNA pattern. Batman frowned. "Computer, give me audio and visual from Metro-Tower security camera 094." The DNA helixes were immediately replaced with the examination room where Huntress was being kept. She was still there on the bed with a tachyon field generator humming over her. The Atom had stabilized her condition with the generator, but The Batman could see the top of the examination bed through her ghostly body. The Question was there at her side. He had brought his computer into the examination room and was typing and reading the data on the screen like a man possessed.

"What are you doing, Q?" Huntress asked. She sounded as weak as she looked.

"Helping you," Question said flatly, not turning away from the monitor. "I know your past—a combination of what I've dug up myself and what you've told me. So, for you to be from the future, your parents, Franco and Carmela Bertinelli, must have acquired you somehow as an infant. That might explain why you have no memory of coming from the future."

"I'm not the most honorable person around, Q. Did it ever cross your mind I lied about my past?" Huntress said.

"Not once," he said, still not looking at her.

Huntress relaxed. "Thanks, baby."

The Question stopped typing. The warm feeling her words gave him mixed with his cold fear of losing her and never hearing those words again. He focused on the data in front of him even more. His fingers returned to the keyboard typing as fast as humanly possible.

Huntress looked at the ceiling. "Just promise not to tell anyone I used to wet the bed when I was–ahhhhhh!"

The Question sprang out of his chair, sending it sideways to the floor. "Helena!"

Huntress was crackling with energy as time tried to force her out of existence. She nearly faded away completely, but then slowly reappeared. The energy died down as the Tachyon field reasserted itself. Huntress looked at The Question's faceless mask and tried to smile. "It's okay," she said. "Still here." She weakly raised a hand up to touch the side of his face. He could barely feel her make contact before her finger tips passed through his cheek. She let her hand fall to her side on the bed. "I'm alright, baby. Just keep working." The Question looked at her, his mask hiding the pain and fear he felt. In his mind, he cursed whoever was responsible for Huntress' condition and resumed his work.

The Batman terminated the camera link and put his hands in a triangle in front of his face. The bat computer could be wrong, The Batman thought, but a full manual diagnostic would take days and with the Huntress's life in the balance, that was something he could not risk. And, it would be just a matter of time before The Question figured out what he and J'onn already knew. He put his knuckles on the computer console and looked down at the keyboard. His shoulders fell, defeated. He would have to act. He looked up at the display again. "Computer, current location of Justice League member zero-zero-three," The Batman said. A map appeared on the computer screen with a flashing dot indicating the league member's location. The Batman's eyes narrowed. "Kaznia."


	3. Turning Back the Clock

The Batman made his way to the Batwing-a black bat-shaped supersonic fighter-jet with state-of-the-art stealth and weapon systems. He got into the cockpit and the canopy slid closed over him. A few minutes ago, he contemplated just calling Justice League member 003 and having her come to him, but the Batwing would be much faster. Besides, with her current opinion of him and the nature of what they might have to do to save Huntress' life, the least he could do is be face to face with her when he told her. An engine roar and he was in the night sky with a course plotted for Kaznia.

The Batman was going over what he was going to say when he reached Kaznia when he saw it: the Bat Signal—a spotlight the Gotham City police had doctored to project a bat-shaped shadow in the sky to summon The Batman in times of great need. Usually when the signal was in the sky, The Batman dropped what ever he was doing and raced to police headquarters where Police Commissioner James Gordon would be waiting for him with information on why the city was in peril.

But could The Batman do that now? The entire timeline was in peril if what The Atom said about the Huntress was true. If she disappeared, the entire timeline as it was now would reset as if she had not existed and that could be catastrophic. On the other hand, if he did put Huntress and the timeline first, without checking in with Gordon, he might have to live with something horrible he let happen to his city in his absence. The Batman decided to call Gordon and see what the emergency was. Depending on the nature of the problem, he might be able to get the Justice League to send a team of heroes to resolve the situation. He activated the communication system in the Batwing and dialed Police commissioner Gordon's personal cell phone.

Gordon felt the cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He opened it and put it to the side of his face. "Gordon, here."

"What is it?" The Batman said.

"Batman, thank goodness. We have an unidentified man with a nuclear device on him. It's no bigger than a cell phone. My contact in the military tells me if it goes off it'll flatten half the city."

"Wonderful," The Batman said.

"It gets worse. The man also has a prototype force field generator. The FG-4155. It—

"It allows weapons fire to exit the shield, while letting none enter. So, we can't get to him. But if he detonates the device inside the shield, the bomb will work just fine," The Batman finished.

"Yes. The man is holed up in the old Pussykins Pet Food Factory." I'm here now with S.W.A.T. and a team of negotiators. However, the man won't let us near the building. If we enter, he says he'll detonate the bomb."

The Batman knew the place. The Joker had captured Catwoman after she had saved The Batman from frying on national TV in a Joker-designed laughter-activated electric chair. The Joker was going to use the factory machinery to chop Catwoman into cat food, but Batman had turned up in the nick of time and saved her.

Batman weighed his options. If he continued to Kaznia then this timeline might be saved, but Gotham might be destroyed. If he had the Justice League send in a team to save his city from a threat as delicate as this and they failed, he would not be able to live with himself for not being there to help. After all, Gotham was his city.

The Batman cursed. The Batwing engine roared in protest as he turned the ebon-winged jet around.

"I hope your on your way," Gordon said noticing a longer than usual silence on the other end of the call.

The Batman frowned. "I am, Batman out."

X X X

The police had surrounded the Pussykins Pet Food Factory, but the only ones who had weapons ready were teams of SWAT members that Commissioner Gordon had placed in optimal positions around the abandoned building. If The Batman failed, Gordon wanted his people ready to rush in and take down the man inside by whatever means necessary. Suicidal or not, the man was threatening to destroy Gotham city, Gordon's city. He could not let that happen. However, he would send The Batman in first. Gordon knew The Batman would do everything he could do, much more than Gordon or any of his men could do, to save the man's life and prevent disaster.

Now, Gordon stood amongst the organized police force waiting for Batman to arrive. Standing next to him was Detective Harvey Bullock. The white-haired police commissioner looked around for The Batman, but could not see him. He started to wonder if something had delayed the Dark Knight.

"Looks like your pet bat chickened out, Commish. Can't say I blame him with the nuke and all," Detective Bullock said.

"Commissioner," The Batman said.

Gordon and Bullock were startled. They put their hands to their chests to settle their hearts. The Batman was right beside them.

"Have pity on an old man's blood pressure," Gordon said.

Gordon was dressed in a black tux, as was Bullock. The latter man dressed up was a bit of a surprise to The Batman as Bullock usually spent the day in a suit, hat and trench coat that made him look like an unmade bed. Most of the other officers on the scene were dressed up as well. "We were at a wedding before this whole thing started," Gordon said feeling the need to explain their attire.

The Batman said nothing.

"We have heat signature confirmation of his location. The man inside the factory is away from any windows, but we still don't know his identity. Here's the layout of the factory." Gordon handed The Batman a piece of paper.

"I already know the layout. Give me ten minutes then send in your men," The Batman said.

Gordon looked at Bullock. "Make sure all your men are ready to move if I have to give the signal." He looked back at The Batman. "Good Lu-

The Batman was already gone.

X X X

Craig Valentine sat alone in his street clothes atop a dusty desk in one of the two offices inside the Pussykins Pet Food Factory. In one hand he held a picture. In the other was the nuclear device. He looked from one to the other with his tear-reddened eyes as if each thing was a lawyer arguing its case and him the lonely judge. On the table between his legs was a piece of paper he had brought with him. Around his waist was the force field generator—a faint hum telling him it was working. He had plugged a dusty old desk lamp into a socket on the force field generator to provide some light.

"Mr. Valentine," said a voice.

Valentine was startled. "Dammit! I said no cops in here! Do you want me to blow this damn thing now?"

A dark shape filled the doorway to the office.

"Batman," Valentine gasped. He moved his finger over the bomb's detonation button.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere else, Mr. Valentine?" The Batman said.

Valentine stopped moving. He glanced at the picture in his hand. Then, he looked away. "You know."

"I read the papers. I saw the announcement." The Batman said.

"Then read this paper." Valentine tossed the paper sitting on the desk between his legs to The Batman. There was a quick flash as it passed through the invisible force field between them.

The Batman bent down and picked up the document. It was the results of a medical examination by physicians working for the Gotham branch of King Labs—a subsidiary of Lexcorp, Batman knew. "I'm sorry," The Batman said when he finished reading it.

Valentine frowned. "The doctor said I've got six months, if I'm lucky."

The Batman said nothing, his dark form almost one with the shadows in the doorway.

Valentine held up the bomb. "You see this, Batman? This is my life's work. A nuclear bomb you can carry in your pocket. Isn't that wonderful? Lexcorp asked me to create it for them—a wonder of micro technology."

The Batman, again, said nothing, but the thought of Lex Luthor having access to a pocket-sized nuclear weapon sent a chill down his spine.

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you, Batman. I'm not going to blow up Gotham or even you. I just called that in to keep the cops out. I've removed the devices nuclear capabilities. All the design specs were in my laptop and I've destroyed that. This is the only working prototype. I'm just going to blow myself up and take this blasted machine with me. I figure it'll save me months of tubes and bedpans—and my fiancé the pain of watching me die. Now, please, I'm sure lives need to be saved somewhere else so why don't you just leave me alone with my misery."

"You used to work here," The Batman said.

Valentine raised an eyebrow. "You do your homework. Yeah, the money from this place helped put me through college—he waved the nuclear device in the air—'helped make me the benevolent scientist I am today. I figured I'd come back to the beginning to face the end. This place is abandoned now anyway, just like the All-Mighty has abandoned me. No one will get hurt when I blow the bomb in here. Heck, it might even give them an excuse to knock the place down and build something new."

"Is that what you want for your fiancé too—to build something new with someone else?" The Batman said.

Valentine felt a pang of jealousy. "Man, you sure know the right buttons to push. Well then, if you know so much, Batman, tell me this-Is it worth making a woman part of your life if you're going to fall apart and die well before she does?"

The Batman said nothing, but Valentine heard the Dark Knight take a step back, the meaning of which was lost on the despondent man.

The Batman steeled himself. "Before you answer that question, you need to consider what will happen when she finds out you've blown yourself up on the evening news."

"They'll just tell her I had issues, and she was better off not marrying me. We've all got issues Batman, lots of issues. No offence, but look at you. You don't exactly wear a jacket and tie to work. So, the real question is whether we choose to face life and love with them—or not. For me, cancer is too big an issue. How can I bring that burden into her life? How romantic is it for a wife to change her husband's urine bag? How romantic is it to get his medication ready? All so he can cling to one more day of a miserable life that robs her of hers and climaxes in his painful and miserable death? No, sir, not me. I'm better than that," Valentine said.

"Valentine," The Batman said.

Valentine readied the device. "Goodbye Batman. I'll give you ten seconds to get clear before I push the button. Ten—nine—eight—seven—uh—six—five—uhhh." The Batman didn't move. The device fell out of Valentine's weak hand and he fell asleep on the desk in a heap.

The FG-4155 force field generator was designed to let weapons fire exit, but not enter it. The shield could be set to be dense enough to not even allow air to pass through it. However, this required the user to wear some kind of breathing apparatus. Valentine was not wearing such a device. So, The Batman knew the shield would allow for a gas attack, particularly the odorless knock-out gas The Batman used. The Batman was standing deep enough in the shadows that Valentine didn't see the gas mask on The Dark Knight's face. The mask kept The Batman safe, while gas fumes from a device The Batman had in his hand filled the room.

The Batman went over and took the nuclear device from the floor. The force field did not stop his advance as it had come down when Valentine lost consciousness—one of the device's safety features. The Batman examined the bomb. Valentine had not lied. The device, in its current state, would have done nothing but blow the room to bits and Valentine with it. Batman turned off the desk lamp and disconnected it from the force field belt. He put Valentine over his shoulder and left the building.

X X X

Valentine woke up an hour later on a sofa in St. Matthew's church. He was in what looked like a little office. He was wearing a new tuxedo instead of his street clothes. He was groggy, but quickly coming to his senses. Suddenly, a woman burst into the room followed by Commissioner Gordon, Detective Bullock. The woman was in full wedding dress.

"There you are!" she said. How can you nap at a time like this?"

Valentine looked around, confused. "Did I dream the whole thing?" he asked himself in his mind.

"I could've sworn I checked this room," Bullock said scratching his head.

"Don't worry about it, Harvey. At least Captain Montoya's husband is okay," Commissioner Gordon said. "If we hadn't found him it would have been a disaster."

Disaster. Valentine felt his tux for the nuclear device he designed. All he found was a note in his inside pocket. He unfolded it and read.

Let her decide—B.

Valentine was relieved and saddened at the same time, but as he looked in Rene's face, he knew The Batman was right. He was grateful to the hero for turning back the clock, even if it was only figuratively. "Rene, can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

"As long as you don't mind a little bad luck, Craig. You are seeing me in my dress before the ceremony, after all." Montoya said. Her face was still full of the relief of finding him okay.

All the other people in the little office exited, save Craig and Rene. Commissioner Gordon gave the couple one last look, a sad but hopeful one, and then closed the door behind him.


	4. A Vine Mess

Black Canary walked out of the med-wing room where Huntress slept. The door slid closed behind her with a hiss. Green Arrow was there in the corridor waiting for her.

"How's she doing?" Green Arrow said.

"The same," Black Canary said. "Ollie, it's so horrible. She looks like a ghost."

"The league has a lot of smart people working on this. They'll figure it out, and Huntress will be back on her feet before you know it," Green Arrow said.

Black Canary looked sad, "I wish I had you're confidence. I feel so useless. My friend is in there being ripped apart by the space-time continuum. An ultrasonic cry and martial arts aren't going to do anything against that."

Green Arrow put a hand on Black Canary's shoulder. "Look, why don't we go ask J'onn if—

The door to Huntress' room slid open. The Question came running out from behind it. He ran between Green Arrow and Black Canary and down the hall, nearly knocking the two heroes over. Black Canary and Green Arrow watched him go. The Question's blue overcoat flapped like a cape behind him.

"Coming?" the Question shouted into the air before they could say something about his lack of manners. Black Canary and Green Arrow looked at each other and then ran after him. Question made straight for the Javelin Bay.

"Where are we going, Question?" Green Arrow said.

"I'll explain on the way. Canary, you fly. Get us to Detroit," The Question said.

After the Javelin was in the night sky headed for coordinates in Michigan, Green Arrow looked back at The Question from his co-pilot seat at the front of the vehicle. "Well?"

"I've got a lead on who Huntress' real father is—or was," The Question said behind his featureless mask. "I found a paternal DNA match with a blood sample on file with our old friends—Cadmus."

"I though the government finally shut them down," Black Canary said, not taking her eyes off the sky.

"They did," The Question said. "This blood sample, whomever it comes from and whatever it was used for, was acquired early in the organization's existence. The sample was confiscated by the government when Cadmus was terminated. It's being kept at a storage facility in Detroit now."

"You want us to break into a government facility?" Green Arrow said.

The Question straightened his blue fedora with one hand. "Yes. Unless you think Huntress has time to wait for the request paperwork to go through?" The Question said.

"I'm worried about Huntress too, Question, but couldn't we have asked J'onn to ask The President to give us the sample?" Black Canary said.

"These blood samples were part of a U.S. Military black-ops experiment to create the ultimate assassin. To give them to us would mean admitting to the project's existence. Something I doubt The President, no matter how ignorant of the subject he may be, would want revealed to the public." The Question said.

"Our tax dollars at work. So, breaking in is less time and less politics," Green Arrow said.

"Exactly," The Question said.

"I sure hope your right, Question," Black Canary said.

Green Arrow crossed his arms on his chest. "I'm still not sure how all the time mumbo-jumbo the Atom was talking about fits in to all this. I hope you're not planning to synthesize baby Huntress and send her into the past yourself."

"Whatever it takes," The Question said.

Green Arrow's eyes went wide for a moment. The Question did not acknowledge the archer's reaction and just looked out the window beside his seat.

In her imagination, Black Canary saw The Question pouring the contents of one test tube into another, putting a stopper on the full test tube and shaking it. A hospital baby bed with the name Huntress on it was in front of him. "Eeww," she said to herself.

A short while later, Black Canary spoke again. "Guys, we're coming up on the storage facility but-

"I see it. Woah," Green Arrow said.

The Question got out of his seat and came up to the front of the Javelin to see what had surprised Black Canary and Green Arrow. The Question's eyebrows narrowed behind his faceless mask. "Get us down there."

X X X

After landing the Javelin in the parking lot, the three heroes exited the vehicle and made their way to the storage facility. The full moon kept watch overhead.

"According to the Javelin computer, this is Government Storage Facility 109. The military uses it to store transport vehicles. Hum-Vs. Jeeps, armored troop carriers, and the like," Green Arrow said. "The government built it back in the nineties on the site of a car factory that went bust."

"That's the official story." The Question said. What they fail to mention in the public information is that GSF-109 sits atop GSF-22X, a top secret underground storage facility for things the government doesn't want paraded in front of the public eye."

"Well, underground secret storage facility or not, I hope you guys brought hedge clippers," Black Canary said.

The three heroes looked at the storage facility. It was almost completely covered in thick vines. The compliment of soldiers assigned to guard the facility were entangled in the vines and hung limply from them like strange fruit.

"Are they dead?" Black Canary said.

"Let's find out," Green Arrow said. He took a knife from his belt and started cutting one of the soldiers free.

"Watch out for the thorns," Black Canary said.

"No problem, pretty-bird," Green Arrow said.

Pretty-Bird: one of Green Arrow's affectionate nicknames for Black Canary. Hearing it made The Question long for Huntress' presence. He used the longing to further focus himself on the job at hand. He had to get that blood sample, no matter the cost.

As Green Arrow brought the soldier down to the ground in his arms, The Question walked over, kneeled down and put two fingers on the soldier's neck. After a moment, he removed them. "He's still alive. His pulse is regular, but slowed. He's asleep."

"A toxin from the thorns?" Black Canary said.

"Most likely," The Question said as he looked at the tears in the soldier's uniform and the cuts and scratches on the flesh beneath them.

Green Arrow got to his feet and something caught his eye, something pink, under a pile of vines. He started walking toward it. Once he got there, he started cutting away the vines until it was obvious what the hidden thing was. "Look at what we have here," Green Arrow said. The Question and Black Canary came walking up behind him. In front of the three of them was a pink car with the words ROSE BUD on the license plate. The steering wheel was locked with a CLUB anti-theft device, but this CLUB had been made to look like a rubber chicken.

"No question as to who's here," the Question said.

X X X

"So that's what it looks like in one of these," Harleen Quinzel a.k.a. Harley Quinn said, her head poked inside the door to one of the storage facilities' men's bathrooms. "Hey, red, did you know they can stand up and go if they want to? There are special toilets right on the wall and everything."

Pamela Isley a.k.a. Poison Ivy grabbed Harley's arm and yanked her to attention. "Will you stop fooling around? We've got to get out of here."

The two super villainesses looked like they were on their way to a costume party. Poison Ivy or "red" as Harley often called her because of her beautiful red hair, was dressed in a green one piece bikini and had skin with a grayish-green hue. They made for an appearance that made her look like she would be more at home in a jungle than in an underground government storage facility. Her partner in crime, Harley Quinn, was dressed in a red and black jester outfit with a white face and black eye-mask. The ladies were colorful invaders in a place where the standard dress was usually drab military grays and greens.

The two women walked to the end of one of the underground storage facility's corridors and got back in the elevator that brought them down here in the first place. Ivy used the key card she had gotten off one of the soldiers to activate the elevator so it would take them back to surface level.

"You know, if you needed blood so badly, we could have just robbed a blood bank—less security." Harley said as the elevator doors closed.

Ivy frowned at Harley. "Very funny."

"Funny is what I do," Harley said smiling broadly and raising her over-sized handgun to her shoulder. "Whose blood is it anyway?"

Ivy smirked. She looked at the tiny vial in her hand. "Years ago, I kidnapped the baby this blood sample comes from. The government had grown him in a test tube. Once he reached puberty anyone he would have touched skin to skin would have died from toxic shock. He was to become an assassin for Uncle Sam some day, but I had plans of my own."

"What happened to him?" Harley said.

Ivy's frowned. "I don't know. Batman took him from me before I could raise him. He probably returned the baby to the government. But, finally, thanks to that FBI agent I took control of, we were able to find this place, and I can start all over again."

"You're going to make another baby?" Harley made a disgusted face. "I'm not changing any diapers."

"Nothing so crude, Harl. Using plant DNA as a base, I'm going to use this blood to make clones and then accelerate their growth. We're going to have our own army of toxic-men running around making the world safer for plant-life."

"If you say so, red. That doesn't sound like much fun to me. But I guess I could take a couple of them shopping with me and let them shake hands with the security guards," Harley said.

"That's the spirit," Ivy said. The elevator door opened and the ladies stepped out. "So, we get out of here and start our world-changing plans. Any questions?"

"Just one," said a voice. Harely and Ivy looked forward and their eyes widened. The voice had come from a faceless man in a blue overcoat and fedora. He was standing in the large garage area between them and the storage facility exit.

"And he brought friends," Green Arrow said. The emerald-archer stood on the Question's left, two impact arrows already cocked in his bow. Black Canary stood on The Question's right, her hands clenched into fists.

"Look, red, it's Robin Hood!" Harley said pointing at Green Arrow, her eyes wide and smiling.

Ivy tucked the blood vile into the neckline of her outfit between her breasts. "Well I'm hardly Maid Marion." Ivy raised and eyebrow and immediately the vines that practically carpeted the garage space and the army vehicles parked in it came to life. To the three heroes, it was like standing in the middle of and upset snake hibernacula.

Green Arrow let his impact arrows fly. One struck Harley and the other Ivy—or they would have if Ivy's vines, with the speed of whips, had not formed a wall between the arrows and their intended targets. Once the arrows were stopped, the vines fell away to the attack, and the arrows were lost in the writhing green.

Black Canary moved forward and opened her mouth to unleash her "canary cry"—an ultrasonic scream-on the two super-villains. At this range the sound would, perhaps, knock them out. But before she could, a vine wrapped itself around her head filling her open mouth. Two other vines wrapped themselves around her arms and pulled her to the ground. Black Canary could feel the thorns scratching and cutting her skin. Move vines snaked on top of her trying to suffocate her.

The Question, a brawler at his core. However, with a machete from the Javelin supplies as a weapon, he was doing well enough slicing the vines before they could get a grip on him. Slowly, he was making his way towards Harley and Ivy.

Harley aimed her oversized handgun at The Question and fired. A giant cork flew out of the barrel and struck The Question's hand forcing him to cry out on pain and drop his machete. A vine got a hold of his ankle and dragged him to the floor. Next, the vine lifted him in the air, shaking his fedora from his head and threw him across the room over a set of vine-covered army vehicles.

Green Arrow, not wanting to let go of his bow in favor of the machete on his back, pressed a button on his bow's grip and suddenly a razor-sharp blade extended out of the end of each of the bow's green limbs. Using the bow like a staff, Green Arrow moved with a warrior's grace and sliced the vines as they tried to get a grip on him. When he saw an opening, he reached back, pulled an arrow from his quiver and let it loose in Black Canary's direction. The arrow was a buzz saw arrow. The spinning blade at its tip sliced the vine over Canary's mouth just missing her lips. The vine pieces fell away and Black Canary screamed for all she was worth.

Green Arrow dropped his bow and put his hands on his ears. Harley dropped her gun and did the same. Ivy covered her ears as well. Even with their hands as mufflers, the sound from Black Canary's scream would not be denied. Ivy lost her concentration and all the vines went limp. Then, Ivy, Harley and Green Arrow all dropped to their knees. The pain they felt was evident on their faces.

When Black Canary stopped, Ivy and Harley shook their heads and slowly got to their feet. The looked up and saw The Question, his hatless head behind a Gatling gun atop a troop carrier. He had the gun aimed at the two ladies. "I'm pretty sure vines aren't going to stop this," The Question said. Harley and Ivy raised their hands.

X X X

The heroes tied up Harley and Ivy using cable from one of Green Arrow's trick arrows. Emergency services came to help the soldiers poisoned by Ivy's vines. The Detroit Police came and picked up Harley and Ivy, but not before the Question snatched the blood vial from where Ivy had put it. He checked the number on the side. It was exactly the vial of blood he had come here to get. "Why did you want this?" The Question demanded.

"Figure it out for yourself, pervert!" Ivy said. She was none too pleased at having The Question's gloved hand between her breasts a moment ago.

The Question backhanded Ivy across the face and drew blood from the inside of her cheek. It trickled out the side of her mouth. Green Arrow and Black Canary were wide-eyed.

"Red!" shouted Harley.

"Are you sure we're the one's that should be going to Arkham?" Ivy spat.

The Question raised his hand to hit Ivy again. Green Arrow grabbed his wrist before he could. "Question, no. We got what we came for." Green Arrow kept his hold until Question relaxed. Question let his hand drop and looked away from Ivy's angry eyes.

Black Canary looked at the cuts and scratches on her arms and legs through the holes the vines tore in her clothing. "Good thing we took those anti-toxin tablets from the Javelin medical supplies. Otherwise the vine thorns would have put us to sleep like those soldiers." Black Canary said in a vain attempt to change the subject.

The Question said nothing. His mind was on Huntress. He looked at the blood vial in his hand. He closed his fist over it. "Let's go."


	5. Yas ot Sdrow Thgir Eht

The Batwing raced over the Atlantic Ocean. The Batman had lost time saving Detective Montoya's husband to be, and now he could no longer afford to be tactful with the Justice League member he was racing to see. He put two fingers to the side of his cowl to activate his Justice League com-link to try and contact her—or would have if the Batwing computer had not suddenly beeped a warning. He looked at the monitor. An uncharted landmass suddenly appeared in the ocean. The Batman raised and eyebrow and then, just as suddenly as the island appeared, the Batwing flew apart. A completely natural event considering the fact the Batwing was now a flock of woodpeckers.

The Batman, now in freefall, experienced a brief moment of disconnection as he watched the birds that used to be his jet, fly away. But the moment ended quickly and his survivor's reflexes kicked in. He pulled the cord and his parachute-pack popped open. The large black cloth inside caught the air and the Batman was now descending towards the mystery island below.

The Batman landed on the island, which was no surprise to him. From the moment after the Batwing had transformed the fall felt unnatural, controlled. He released the parachute straps and took stock of his surroundings. It was a small island, not much bigger than a square kilometer, and it had no vegetation.

"What's this all about, Klarion?" the Batman demanded. Suddenly the sand started to swirl like water going down a drain and The Batman let out a frustrated shout just before he was taken down into the whirlpool. The island sunk into the water shortly after that, disappearing into the blue water like it had never been there at all.

The Batman felt himself being whirled around by the sand and when the whirling stopped he started falling. He hit bottom a second and. sand falling with him fell on top of him. He coughed sand out of his throat and then he got himself to his feet. However, before The Batman could get his bearings, an invisible force gripped him and lifted him into the air. He strained against it, unable to move. He could see, however, and what he saw was a pointed-jawed teenager in a dark suit with a devil-horns hairstyle standing below him. In his arms he held a brown cat with a white fur on her belly. The cat hissed at him.

"Ah, Batman, I was not sure you would deduce it was me. I teased you about conjuring a flock of woodpeckers so long ago."

"What do you want this time, Klarion? Are you after Morgan Le Fay's branding iron again?" The Batman said through grit teeth.

"Oh, you mean this?" Klarion held something up. The Batman recognized the iron rod immediately, right down to the "M" on its face. "Yes, I took the time to reclaim this little item after I imprisoned Uncle Jason and your partner Robin for their part in imprisoning me.

The Batman's temper got the better of him at the mention of Robin's name. "If you've hurt them, I'll—

-do nothing," Klarion finished for him. "There's nothing you can do against my magic anymore, even if you had Uncle Jason to help you. I'm going to imprison all three of you, just like Uncle Jason did to me."

"And take control of Etrigan again, I suppose," The Batman growled.

Klarion looked down and shook his head from side to side. "Batman, Batman, Batman, I'm older now and more powerful than ever. I've got bigger plans than playing with some demon—Klarion smiled under narrowed eyes-and bigger needs. I'm going to leave Etrigan where he is with Uncle Jason and the two of them can spend eternity trapped together." Klarion laughed. "I'd like to say you and Robin will spend eternity with him, but, well, I'm pretty sure you and Robin will die of thirst first. Hahahahahaha."

The Batman was furious. He focused his anger into his muscles and strained against the force holding him for all he was worth. No success. He might as well have been trying to bench-press the Earth.

"Now, enough talk. It's time to put you where you belong." Klarion's eyes glowed bright-green and the Batman disappeared.

X X X

"Batman, you okay?" It was Robin. The Batman had appeared somewhere on his hands and knees. Robin helped him to his feet. The Batman acknowledged the masked spiky-haired teenager with a nod and then looked around in the light of Robin's flashlight. He, then, took out his own flashlight from his utility belt and turned it on to brighten the place even more.

"Where are we?" The Batman said.

"In a cave in the world's biggest snow-globe," Robin said.

"Deep underground, I think," another voice said.

"Jason," The Batman said. The grey-suited, tall man with the white stripe in his neatly trimmed red-hair nodded. The Batman nodded back.

Batman touched the surface of their prison. "Glass?" The Batman said.

"Yes, and it's magical," Jason said. Robin and I have been trying to cut through it with every tool he has and spell I know. So far, we've had no luck."

"What about Etrigan?" The Batman said.

"I've tried transforming, Batman. But Klarion put a spell on this prison that keeps me from succeeding. Etrigan's even more trapped than we are."

"How did Klarion get free?" The Batman said.

"It was sudden. I checked on him before going to bed. Then, as I was getting a glass of water, his prison, a glass globe on my mantle, exploded. He should not have been able to break it. I don't know how he got so powerful. He roughed me up a bit then sent me here. Robin appeared here a few hours later," Jason said.

The Batman looked at Robin. "He took me from Titan's Tower. I was there, um, talking with Starfire and the next minute I'm here, with Mr. Blood," Robin said.

Batman put two fingers to the side of his cowl. "Batman to Metro Tower."

Static.

"Batman to Watchtower."

Static.

"Batman to all Justice League members, please respond."

Static.

"My communicator can't reach anyone either," Robin said.

"I'm not done," The Batman said. The Batman cleared his mind and then concentrated. 'J'onn can you hear me? J'onn?', The Batman said in his mind.

Silence.

"I can't even reach, J'onn," The Batman said.

"Maybe if we combine our communicators to make a more powerful signal?" Robin suggested.

"That's where I was going next," The Batman said. Robin smiled and then he and The Batman immediately took tools from their utility belts and went to work combining the Titans' communicator with The Batman's and every other electronic communication device they had on their persons. They even took Jason's cellular phone and added it to the mix. Jason could not help but notice how smoothly The Batman and Robin worked together, both working hard and fast, but one never getting in the other's way. Soon the device was complete and they tested it several times, but, still, they could reach no one.

"It was a good plan," Jason said.

The Batman, Robin, and Jason fell silent, each of them trying to think of a way out.

"Cutting tools?" The Batman said to Robin.

"Failed," Robin said.

"Lasers?"

"Failed."

"Sonics?"

"Failed."

"Explosives?"

"As much as I dared try. Failed."

The Batman looked at Jason. "Are you sure you don't have a spell to get us out of here?"

"I've tried all I know. This prison seems specifically created to prevent my magic from working," Jason said.

The Batman lowered his head and searched his mind for an answer. None came. How he hated magic.

Jason's eyes widened. "Wait, I might have something." He took a pendant from around his neck. Batman saw it in the light of his flashlight and raised an eyebrow when he recognized the "Z" sigil on it.

Jason held the pendant up and spoke, "EERF SU MORF SIHT NOSIRP." The spherical prison shook and started to crack. Robin pumped his fist.

But then it stopped.

"No," The Batman said. Both he and Robin immediately attacked the prison, The Batman with the points of a pair of Batarangs from his utility belt and Robin with his collapsible metal staff from his utility belt. They kept banging away until Jason put a hand on The Batman's shoulder. The Batman, breathing audibly, stopped and looked at him. Robin stopped too.

"I'm afraid physical attacks still won't work. The prison is weakened, but not defeated," Jason said.

"Cast the spell again," The Batman said more sternly than he intended.

"The pendant is out of power, I'm afraid.

"No," Robin said.

"I sense the cell is weak enough to perhaps establish magical contact with another magic-user now, but not by me. The prison is still completely immune to my magic," Jason said.

"A lot of good that does us," The Batman said.

"Maybe it does," Robin said.

Both The Batman and Jason looked at The Batman's junior partner.

Robin pushed his yellow cape aside and returned his staff to his utility belt. "I only know a little about magic," Robin said as he sat down and took the lotus position. "But maybe to contact a magic-user you just need to know the right words to say." Robin closed his eyes, focused his mind on the only person he felt could help him now and then spoke. "Azarath Metreon Zinthos."

Note to readers: The chapters to come will use the Teen Titans from the 2003 - 2006 animated series. However, I will take the liberty that Robin in that series is Tim drake. That way, the Teen Titan's animated series and the Batman: Gotham Knights episode "the Demon Within" can be part of the experience of the same Robin. More to come. Stay Tuned!


	6. A Close Personal Friend

"EEEEEE!"

The scream was so loud that Beast Boy would swear up and down later that it shook the entire infrastructure of the huge T-shaped Titan's Tower. The green-skinned shape-shifter lost his focus and dropped his video game controller right into his banana-yogurt smoothie. He groaned at the sight. Then, he morphed into a green bee and made a bee-line straight for the scream's source.

Cyborg, working in the garage under the hood of the T-car, banged his head on the hood in surprise at the glass shattering scream. Then, he too, ran to help, rubbing the brown flesh side of his head the whole way. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."

The scream shattered the dark-blue-caped Raven's concentration who was levitating in meditation in the garden on the Tower grounds. Unfortunately, she was also levitating six buckets of water in a circle above her as part of a magical exercise. They all dumped on her at once and, a second later, one of the buckets landed on her head covering her frowning cloud-grey-skinned face.

Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven, the latter still with the bucket on her head, gathered in front of the entrance to their fellow Titan's, Starfire's, room. Cyborg kicked the door down with his big metal foot. Raven removed the bucket.

Cyborg entered, his right arm morphed into a sonic cannon. Beast Boy entered sporting a green wolf form. And Raven entered levitating above the floor, her fists aglow with her dark soul energy.

"Starfire?" Cyborg called out.

The Titans looked around Starfire's bedroom and, when they saw her, froze. Starfire was sitting on the bed in her purple and blue small top and short skirt uniform looking a little wrinkled. She looked at the space next to her like someone should be there but was not.

Beast Boy shape-shifted back into his human form: a green-skinned, green-haired boy with pointy ears and tiny fangs. "Um, Star?" he said in his cute raspy voice.

The orange-skinned and red-haired Tamaranean, Starfire, looked at her friends. "Robin is gone! He was here a moment ago! We were here together, making the out, and he just vanished!"

Raven put a grey fist to her lips and coughed to hide a smile. "More likely he's just hiding under the bed so we don't see him." Her voice sounded like a creaky coffin lid.

Cyborg rushed forward and lifted up Starfire's bed the full length of his arms with her still on it. He moved his head side to side looking for Robin. "It's alright, lover boy! Come'on out! Don't be shy!" Cyborg said with a big smile, while Starfire fought to keep her balance on her now bucking-bronco of a bed. "Huh, he's not here." Cyborg dropped the bed and Starfire with it. It crashed to the floor.

Starfire sat up, knocked away the stars around her head with her hand, and spat out a pillow. "I have already told you. He just disappeared."

Beast Boy shape-shifted into a bloodhound and started sniffing the room. Then,he shape-shifted back to his green pointy-eared human form. "He was here all right," Beast Boy said.

"That is what I said. We must discover to where he has gone!" Starfire said.

Cyborg scanned the room. "My sensors aren't picking up any trace of him." Cyborg spoke into the communicator in his wrist. "Robin, come in. Do you read me?"

Static.

Cyborg repeated himself.

Static.

"Nothing," Cyborg said. He was starting to worry now.

Raven walked over to Starfire's bed, her right hand glowing with her black soul energy. She cleared her mind and focused on the bed. "Azarath Metreon Zinthos," she chanted. Afterwards, she was quiet for a moment. Then, she spoke. "I detect some residual magic here, someone really powerful."

"Are you saying some heavy duty magic-user made off with Robin?" Beast Boy said.

"Maybe, I'm not sure," Raven said.

"Oh, my poor Robin! We must save him!" Starfire howled.

"So, um, what do we do?" Beast Boy said.

"I'll try to get a fix on Robin using the Tower's computer systems," Cyborg said.

Raven pulled her cape's hood over her head. "I'll stay here and keep using my powers to see if I can find out more."

"I guess Star and I could search the city. Maybe whoever took Robin is here in Jump," Beast Boy said.

Starfire put her hands together under her chin and smiled. "Great ideas, my friends! Beast Boy! Let us leave at once!" Starfire grabbed Beast Boy and flew out her bedroom window with him in tow, his arms and legs flailing, and a look of panic on his face.

X X X

Later the four Teen Titans, Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg were sitting on their large rec-room sofa. Starfire had her head in her hands and a despondent expression on her face. "We looked everywhere, but we could not find him!" she said.

"And we mean everywhere," Beast Boy said. "I've showed six times already, and I still smell like sewer."

"No kidding," Raven said fanning her nose with her hand.

"I couldn't find a hint of Robin with the computer. Any luck, Raven?" Cyborg said.

"Not much. Beast Boy's guess was right, though. Someone really powerful took Robin, but it's someone I've never come across before."

"We need some help, y'all," Cyborg said.

"What about our friends in the Justice League?" Starfire suggested, maybe they could—

Beast Boy beamed. "Way ahead of you, Star. I've already made the call. My close personal Justice League friend is on the way!"

"You have a close personal friend in the Justice League?" Raven said with a raised eyebrow?

"It's not someone on the janitorial staff is it?" Cyborg said.

"Maybe it is that sweet man that makes the food in the commissary!" Starfire said.

"Joke all you want. Just you wait. When he gets here you guys are going to be so impressed." Beast Boy said.

The doorbell rang.

"He's here!" Beast Boy turned into a green little dog and ran all the way to the door barking. The other Titan's followed him and looking in amazement at one another. Starfire opened the door and all the Titans went wide-eyed.

Beast-Boy jumped up and was caught in the muscular arms of the Justice League member standing there in the Teen Titan's doorway. He gave Beast Boy's head a friendly scratch. Beast Boy shape-shifted back into his human form and landed on the floor. He looked at his fellow Titans while gesturing to his Justice League friend. "Are you guys impressed or what?"

The Teen Titans were speechless as the Justice league Member offered his hand to Starfire and spoke with a thick New York accent. "Name's B'wana Beast, How you doing?"

X X X

B'wana Beast sat on the Titan's Tower rec-room sofa. He was using the yogurt covered controller to play Super-Ninja Fury, while the Teen Titans excused themselves for a moment to talk together.

"He's your close personal friend in the Justice League?" Cyborg said.

"Not much for clothing is he?" Raven said, referring to B'wana Beast's skin tight cheetah shorts covered with a red, white and black loin cloth. A red helmet with a built in gold wing-tip eye mask and red boots finished his skimpy ensemble.

"I did not know Tarzan was a member of the Justice League," Starfire said.

"I know his powers. How's he going to help us find Robin?" Cyborg said.

"Well, he's an expert tracker and, um, well, he's Justice League. He'll find a way!" Beast Boy said.

"I don't know," Raven started to say. But she was cut off. She put her hand to her head.

"Raven?" Cyborg said.

Raven put a hand up in Cyborg's face to silence him.

"What is it?" Beast Boy whispered to Starfire, but still looking at Raven.

"I do not know, Beast Boy. Perhaps Raven would like Cyborg to talk with the hand?" Starfire said.

Raven grunted in frustration. "I lost him."

"Lost who?" Starfire said.

"Robin. He chanted my mantra," Raven said.

"He's trying to contact you!" Cyborg said.

"Do you know where he is?" Starfire said, her eyes big and hopeful, but also full of worry.

"No, I lost him before I could get a fix on him," Raven said.

Starfire's head and shoulders dropped. "My poor Robin," she howled.

"Well, let's at least run the problem by B'wana Beast. Maybe he can help." Beast Boy said.

"Yeah, maybe he can help by calling someone who can help," Cyborg said.

Beast Boy shape-shifted into an anteater and stuck his tongue out at Cyborg.

A moment later, the Teen Titans made their way back into the rec-room. B'wana beast put down his controller and stood up to face them. "So, how can I help out?" B'wana Beast said.

Cyborg steeled himself. "Um, Mr. Beast, thanks for coming and all, but— Cyborg was cut off. His mouth was suddenly full of smoke. All the Titans and B'wana Beast started coughing. When the smoke cleared, B'wana Beast was holding someone in his arms. She was dressed in a magician's top hat, tails, with nylons.

"Zatanna?" Raven said, clearly surprised.

"Raven?" Zatanna said, just as surprised.

"Hey, babe. Good to see you again. G-r-r-r-r-r-ow-l."

"Ahhh! B'wana Beast! How? What? Put me down!" Zatanna said.

"No problem, babe." He set her down on her feet, and gave her bottom a little smack.

"Hey!" she said, looking at Bwana Beast.

"Yeah?" Bwana Beast said with a lusty smile.

Oh, never mind," Zatanna said, deciding there were some battles not worth fighting. She straightened her hat and looked at Raven. "How did I get here? Where's Jason Blood?" she said.

"Good questions," Raven said.

"Who is Jason Blood?" Starfire asked.

Cyborg and Beast Boy said nothing. They were too busy looking at Zatanna and her amazing legs through the big hearts over their eyes. Drool trickled from their big smiles.

"He's, um, a friend. My spell should have taken me right to him, but somehow I ended up here. He has a pendant from me. He was only supposed to use in an emergency. He used it. So, I went to see if he needed help. But, I hit something," Zatanna said.

"Raven had a brief magical link with Robin a moment ago, maybe you somehow rode it back here," B'wana Beast said.

Everyone looked at B'wana Beast. He tapped his helmet. "I'm no stranger to magic."

"So, um, does this mean Robin and this Blood guy are in the same place?" Beast Boy said.

"I don't know about Robin, but I got an image of where Jason is. It was an underground cave, and I think it was underwater too." Zatanna said.

"Nasty," Beast Boy said. He morphed into a green octopus. He wrapped his tentacles around Cyborg and Starfire, pulling them close.

"Oh my poor Robin." Starfire howled.

"And I sensed Batman," Zatanna said.

"Bats?" B'wana Beast said.

"Whoa," Cyborg said.

"Okay, why don't you ladies take some time, put your magical bods together, and see if you can get us a destination," B'wana Beast said to Zatanna and Raven. "The rest of the Titans will get some transportation ready for us, preferably something that can go underwater."

"The T-sub!" Starfire said.

"On it," Cyborg said, taking octopus Beast Boy with him. He was going to take Starfire too, but Raven stopped him.

"You come with us, Starfire. Your…connection to Robin may help us," Raven said.

"Of course, my friends." Starfire said.

Zatanna cleared her throat and narrowed her eyes. "And, um, what are you going to do?" Zatanna said, noticing B'wana Beast reaching for the yogurt-covered video game controller.

"Um, help with the transportation?" B'wana Beast said with a big innocent smile.

"Right," she said and gave him a smack on his bottom, much harder than the one he had given her.

"Ouch!" B'wana Beast said. He hurried on his way protecting his backside with his hands.

Satisfied, Zatanna walked off to join Starfire and Raven.

Note to readers: For those of you who notice grammar errors in Stafire's language (i.e. "Making the out,") and have not watched the Teen titan's Animated series, these are on purpose and are one of the mannerisms present in her English. Cheers - Knites


	7. What are Friends For

The Question put a drop of the blood he had recovered with Green Arrow and Black Canary's help in a Petri dish. Then he put the dish in one of the Metro-Tower's med-computer's analysis machines. Green Arrow leaned against a wall nearby with his arms crossed and Black Canary sat backwards on a desk chair. They both watched the Question work.

"I still can't believe Huntress is from the future, and this is the blood of one of her parents. It all just seems so surreal," Black Canary said.

The Question sat down at the computer, cracked his knuckles, and started typing. "Let's see who this blood belongs to." After a moment the computer identified a bio-file match.

"Someone from the Gotham City criminal data base," Green Arrow said.

"Batman's territory," Black Canary said.

"And yours," The Question said. "In fact, if I recall correctly you were arrested by Gotham police upon suspicion of involvement in the death of one Walt Sarno. It was the event that cost you your secret identity."

"And I was cleared of all charges. Jeez, Question. Walt was a good friend of mine. Why did you bring that up?" Black Canary said.

"You tell me," the Question said without looking at her.

"You're not suggesting that I'm Huntress' mother?" Black Canary said.

Question looked at her this time. "The only foolish questions are the one's not asked," The Question said.

"Now, kids, why don't we see who the match is before we start pointing fingers," Green Arrow said.

The Question and Black Canary fell silent with Black Canary looking a little grumpy. The Question turned back to the computer and opened the bio file. There was a photo along with text. The man in the photo had a square jaw and black hair. He wore dark sunglasses and was chewing on the end of a toothpick. The Question started summarizing aloud. "Matches Malone, born in Hoboken, New Jersey, moved to Gotham over a decade ago. According to this, he used to be a mid-level enforcer for Rupert Thorne's mob. He was caught by police and struck a deal with them to rat on Thorne's activities in exchange for his continued freedom. Things were fine and dandy for him until rumors surfaced he was skimming money from Thorne's take. Two Chicago triggers, Dapper Hoyt and Cricket Zachs were hired to kill Malone as a result. The hit failed and Hoyt and Zachs went to jail for ten years each on attempted murder charges, thanks in large to Malone's eye-witness testimony. However, Hoyt's and Zach's connection to Thorne was thrown out due to lack of evidence."

"So Huntress' father is this guy?" Green Arrow said.

"Why would Poison Ivy want his blood?" Black Canary said.

"Just a moment," The Question pulled a disk out of his overcoat pocket. On the disk was over three terabytes of data he and Huntress had stolen from Cadmus' computers when the organization was still under Lex Luthor's financial wing.

He remembered how Huntress had taken it from him after he downloaded the information and would not return it until he took her out on the town. He got it back later that night when they got back to his place—much later. He removed it from her utility belt while she slept. The belt was among the rest of their clothes thrown haphazardly on his bedroom floor.

"Question, you okay?" Green Arrow said noticing the faceless hero was looking at the disk in his hand a bit too long.

"I'm fine," The Question said more harshly than he intended. He put the disk into the computer and went to work sifting through the Cadmus special projects' information. "This information is really old, different from the information that led me to the blood sample in the first place. The only connection to Cadmus and Poison Ivy is an old FBI case file that refers to a shadow project code named Digitalis, but most of the information has been blacked out. There's not much here save that the blood we have is from that project. Wait, here's something. The agent in charge was one Kristian Garabaldi." The Question quickly hacked into the FBI personnel files. "Found him. He's still alive, retired now, living in Dog River, Saskatchewan, Canada."

"So, what do you want to do, Question?" Black Canary asked.

"We'll have to split up. Canary, you know Gotham's streets the best. You and Green Arrow go there and track down Matches Malone. I'm going to go to Dog River to talk with Mr. Garibaldi."

"I don't know. You're under a lot of pressure, Question. Who's going to make sure you don't do something stupid like you did to Poison Ivy in Detroit while we're in Gotham?" Green Arrow said.

The door to the med-wing computer room slid open. "That would be me." The Question, Green Arrow, and Black Canary all looked at the open door and saw the blue-caped green form of J'onn J'onzz.

X X X

"You don't have to do this," The Question said, not looking at the tall green Martian walking next to him in one of the Metro Tower corridors.

"I'm here because I know this is a difficult time for you. It's hard to think rationally when someone you love is in danger. I don't want the incident with Poison Ivy to be the start of something bigger," J'onn said.

The Question glared at J'onn. "How did you know about that? Did you read my mind?"

J'onn looked down at The Question and decided to let the accusation pass. "No. It was in Green Arrow's report,"

"Tattletale," the Question mumbled.

"Do not condemn Green Arrow for his honesty. He reported it out of concern for you. Despite what you may think, he considers you a friend," J'onn said.

The Question said nothing.

The two Justice League members stepped up on the Metro Tower transporter platform. J'onn nodded to the tech at the controls. In a flash of blue and white light, they disappeared.

X X X

"Did you get through to Raven?" The Batman said

"I don't know, maybe. I felt her presence just for a second," Robin said.

"Keep trying, at least until we think of something else," The Batman said.

Robin nodded and resumed meditating and chanting.

The Batman looked over at Jason who was sitting down looking at the pendant in his hand. It was the one Jason used to damage the magical glass prison the three heroes were in now—damage, but unfortunately, not destroy. Again The Batman saw the "Z" sigil on the pendant's face.

"Getting gifts from Zatanna, I see," The Batman said.

"We've been seeing each other for a while now," Jason said.

The Batman raised and eyebrow.

Jason continued. "It started after Felix Faust tried to take over Tartarus a couple of years back. Since our powers were both magical based, we were both in a bad way after that event. We helped each other back to ourselves."

"I read Wonder Woman's report about the incident," The Batman said.

"Actually, I was going to have dinner with Zatanna again tonight—a really nice restaurant." Jason rubbed the glass prison gently with his hand and looked longingly at the cave space behind it. "I hope I still make it." Jason turned to face The Batman. He put the pendant in his jacket pocket and took out a ring box in the same pocket. He showed the box to The Batman. "I have an important question to ask her."

The Batman glanced at the box and then looked back at Jason. The Batman's eyes narrowed inside his cowl. "And she has no problem dating an immortal with more than his share of personal demons, one really big yellow one in particular?" The Batman said.

"Yes, I strongly believe Zatanna loves me for who—and what-I am. She's fought alongside Etrigan many times now and he has a grudging respect for her. As for the immortality issue…" Jason's eyebrows suddenly rose.

"What?" The Batman said.

"My magic can't affect this prison or myself, but maybe, now that the prison is weakened, it can affect you and Robin." Jason hurriedly walked over and put a hand on either side of Robin's head. Robin, deep in meditation, did not notice. "I'm going to use my magic to make Robin's attempts to contact Raven stronger."

"Wait," Batman said.

Jason looked at the Batman. "Please let me try. It won't hurt him."

The Batman looked at Jason a moment longer, and then nodded.

Jason closed his eyes, lowered his head as spoke. "Oonash, Tagarey Voltho." His hands started to glow with a yellow fire.

Robin's chanting continued. "Azarath Metreon Zinthos."

X X X

Back at Titans' Tower, Raven, Zatanna and Starfire were all meditating in lotus positions hovering slightly above the floor in Starfire's bedroom. All three were trying to reach out to their friends, with their magic, minds and hearts. Suddenly, Robin's, Jason's and The Batman's presences were so strong in the women's minds the ladies were overwhelmed and dropped to the floor.

"I know where they are!" The three ladies said simultaneously, looking at one another.

Starfire jumped to her feet. "Titans Go!"


	8. Under the Sea

Starfire was standing on the roof of the Titans' "T"-shaped Tower. The breeze caressed her orange skin and played wit her long red hair. Her arms were crossed, not against the cool, but to reinforce her patience, which was waning. She took her communicator from her belt. "Cyborg, is the T-sub modified for extra passengers and ready to depart to begin our Robin-saving mission?"

"In about ten minutes—Cyborg's head came out of the communicator and shouted in Starfire's ear—'AFTER YOU QUIT ASKING ME THAT!"

Starfire, feeling a bit embarrassed now, put her communicator back on her belt and looked out at the Jump City skyline.

Suddenly, the trapdoor access to the roof opened. Starfire looked over her shoulder expecting to see Beast Boy or Raven coming up to join her. She was surprised to see Zatanna.

Zatanna looked around. "Wow, it's really nice up here, assuming you don't mind the amount of stairs you have to climb." Zatanna stepped up onto the roof and closed the trapdoor. She walked towards Starfire and stood beside her. Zatanna pulled her magician's hat down a bit to keep the wind from taking it. 'If you guys ever think about redesigning, you might consider going with one of the lowercase letters, an 'a' maybe?"

"Well, look at it from this way: now that you have experienced the fun of the stairs, you can experience the fun of the elevator next time," Starfire said, a genuine smile on her face.

Zatanna looked at her. "There's a—she made a dismissive gesture with her hand—'Never mind. I guess I should have bothered to look. I guess I've got a little too much on my mind."

"I know. You are worried about your Jason as I am worried about my Robin," Starfire said.

"What? How did you know?" Zatanna said. Her cheeks warmed.

Starfire looked at Zatanna, a small knowing smile on her orange face. "When you arrived, I asked you who your Jason was. You had to say 'um' and 'friend' when you responded. Robin used to say these words together as well when he was asked by others about me, and I did the same when asked about him. I am pleased to say that this is now only sometimes the case. We still say them when we are around people we do not know very well or Robin will say them when he is asked questions by Cyborg and Beast Boy about whether or not he has traveled to the home base. His cheeks turn red as warblernooks during these questions."

Zatanna sighed. "Boys will be boys—even super heroic ones, I suppose," Zatanna said.

Starfire raised an eyebrow at Zatanna. "What else would they be?" Then, she put a finger to her chin and looked upward in thought. "Although I must admit, I am surprised to find talk of the baseball unsettles Robin so. He is quite excellent at it."

Zatanna raised an eyebrow at Starfire, then she smiled. "You know something, Starfire? You're all right."

Starfire smiled. "I thank you. I am glad you think so." Then, she looked back to the skyline and her smile faded. "But, to be honest, I am not all right. Besides my Robin needing our help, there is one more thing that troubles me—that has troubled me since Robin and I have become more than friends."

"And that would be?" Zatanna said.

Starfire took a deep breath and looked Zatanna in the eye. "Do you think The Batman will like me?"

Zatanna's face now looked the same way it would have if Batman, in his voice all grim and dark, had suddenly told her that he was not human, but actually a robot controlled by a chicken.

Starfire continued immediately, the need to justify her question overwhelming. 'I know this is an inappropriate time to ask this question, with our friends in danger, but Robin mentioned to me once that you were one of Batman's good friends and, well, you are a female like me and, well, it is just that, on Tamaran, my home world, if the father of the man a woman loves does not like her and the man and woman stay together, the father has the right invoke the curse of Cloragar and, under the curse, the couple's life together will forever be full of unhappiness."

Zatanna was silent. Starfire pushed on. "Robin's father was killed some time ago, he told me so, but he speaks of the Batman like a father. So, I know it is the Batman I have to impress and, well, I have never met him before and people I have asked about him make him sound even scarier than Raven when she wakes up in the morning and discovers Beast Boy has used her toothbrush."

Zatanna wanted to laugh. Zatanna also wanted to hug Starfire for making her feel five-hundred percent better than she had been when she realized Jason was in trouble. But seeing the genuine concern in Starfire's eyes, and remembering what it was like to be young and in love with a young John Smith, Zatanna dismissed her urge to laugh and opted for a reassuring smile instead—with, well, a little laugh.

"You find my distress amusing?" Starfire said.

"No, refreshing," Zatanna said. "Let me put your mind at ease. Tell me this, Starfire. Would you stay with Robin even if it meant you would have to suffer the, um—Zatanna cleared her throat instead of chuckling—'curse of Cloragar?"

Starfire looked to the skyline again. "I would," Starfire said.

Zatanna put a hand on Starfire's shoulder. "Then what's not to like? Besides, take it from me: The Batman's bark is worse than his bite when it comes to the good guys like us." Zatanna said.

Starfire smiled. "Thank-you Zatanna. Your words have-Oh," she said after her communicator started to beep. She took it from her belt and activated it. "Yes?"

"We're ready to go," Cyborg said.

"Zatanna and I will be on to the way," Starfire said. She returned her communicator to her belt.

Zatanna and Starfire hurried towards the trapdoor. Starfire, in flight, got there first and started to open it. Before she finished she looked at Zatanna.

"What?" Zatanna said.

"Zatanna, if you and your Jason were cursed, would you stay with him?" Starfire said.

Memories of Etrigan flashed through Zatanna's mind: the demon's rough yellow skin, red eyes, and brimstone stink, but, then, the memories melted together into thoughts of Jason, his wonderful kind old soul, and how he stood head and shoulders above any man she had ever met. After a moment, she smiled. "Yeah, I would." She reached up, straightened her hat and narrowed her eyes. "Now, let's go save our guys. Starfire let Zatanna go through the trapdoor first and then flew in herself, closing and locking it behind them.

X X X

"Navigational controls on line," Starfire said.

"Engines on the line and functioning within the normal parameters," Cyborg said.

"Defense systems on line," Raven said.

"Life support systems on line and operating at full," Beast Boy said. "Everybody else buckled in?"

"Passengers ready and comfortable," B'wana Beast said from the passengers' cockpit.

"Mostly," Zatanna mumbled as she crossed her legs in a vain attempt to move them out from under B'wana Beast's lusty gaze, but smiling nonetheless as she was pleased to be underway at last.

"Alright, Teen Titans Go!" Cyborg said. In the next instant, the T-sub rocketed out of the Titans' Tower landing bay on its way to coordinates calculated by Raven and readily confirmed by Zatanna and Starfire.

Beast Boy looked over the T-sub from his personal cockpit. Originally just an underwater craft, The T-sub looked like an orange metal manta-ray, with a bubble-like cockpit for each Teen Titan and now one additional section for up to four passengers in the centre. Robin's cockpit of course was unmanned. "Cy, you did an awesome job modifying the T-sub for extra passengers," Beast Boy said.

"Thanks," Cyborg said.

"I'm getting information from the coast guard. There's a storm where we're headed," Raven said.

"I hope it's not too bad," Cyborg said.

X X X

Lighting Flashed.

Cyborg frowned. "It's bad." Cyborg struggled to keep control of the airborne T-sub under a ceiling of heavy gray clouds that stretched above as far as all eyes could see. Meanwhile, strong winds and rain tried to have their way with the craft.

"It's like trying to fly through the mother of all carwashes," Beast Boy said.

"I'm going to take us underwater. It'll be easier to keep control down there. Prepare to dive," Cyborg said.

Cyborg aimed the T-sub's nose downward until the craft broke through the ocean's surface and entered the depths below. Once they were far enough away from the surface of the water, he leveled off. "There, that's better," Cyborg said as he looked at the dark water all around them. He activated the T-subs external lights and sonar and kept the vehicle moving forward.

"This place is creepier that Raven's room," Beast Boy said. Raven gave him a look.

"Well, it is," Beast Boy said.

"Wait, there's something— Cyborg started to say. Suddenly, the sub shook to a stop, surprising all aboard. The engines strained.

"What the heck?" Beast Boy said?

"What did we hit?" B'wana Beast said.

"Nothing. Something's got us," Cyborg said.

Beast Boy looked out his cockpit window. He saw four fingers of a hand, a really big hand. "Not something," Beast Boy shrieked. 'SOMEONE!"

All the heroes aboard the T-sub cried out in confusion and distress as the T-sub was forcibly lifted out of the water. They fell silent once they saw the nature of their attacker.

Even in the dark grey of the storm around them, The Titans and their passengers could see her long purple hair and the transparent blue and purple wing-like fins on her head. Her eyes were as fiery as a sunset.

"It is a woman!" Starfire said.

"A giant woman!" Cyborg said.

"Not just a giant woman!" Raven said.

"A Godzilla-sized mermaid!" Beast Boy said"

The menacing yet beautiful giant woman with the torso of a fish held the T-sub in her hands like a pizza box and looked in the cockpits' windows at her small captives. The heroes had no problem hearing the mermaid's voice over the storm. "I know why you have come, but Master Klarion has said his prisoners in the ground below are not to have visitors—ever."

"Klarion," Zatanna whispered to herself.

"Um, we were just leaving," Beast Boy said through a forced smile.

"Azarath Metreon Zinthos," Raven whispered. Suddenly, a swarm of wasps made of black soul energy formed in the air between the T-sub and the mermaid's face. Each wasp had two-pairs of glowing read eyes on their heads. They flew in the mermaid's face and started stinging her again and again.

The mermaid cried out in anger more so than pain and dropped the T-sub. The vehicle splashed hard back into the water. The engines, still working, propelled the T-sub forward, pushing everyone against the backs of their seats. Cyborg wrestled control of the vehicle back from the chaos of the moment, and the heroes raced away from the giant mermaid at full speed.

"That was close," Beast Boy exhaled, while wiping the nervous sweat from his brow.

"It is still close!" Starfire said.

"She's chasing us!" Raven said.

The mermaid moved swiftly through the water like the fish she partially resembled, her purple hair flowing out behind her head and a mean look in her eye. The darkness of the ocean did nothing to hamper her view of the T-sub futilely trying to outrun her. She opened her mouth unleashed a focused concussive sonic blast that struck the T-sub. The heroes on board the vehicle cried out in alarm.

"That is one mermaid that should definitely not sing!" Beast Boy said.

"We must return to the sky!" Starfire cried.

"No can do, Star. That blast took out our flight engines," Cyborg said.

"Sea engines at seventy-five percent power," Raven said.

Zatanna's fear made her reach for B'wana Beast and he held her in return.

"Guys, I hate to tell you, but we're getting water in here," B'wana Beast said.

Beast Boy looked at the damage report on his control panel. "Oh man, this is not good. One more hit like that and—

The mermaid opened her mouth again. Cyborg tried to evade the blast. Had the T-sub been in the air, he would have succeeded, but here, underwater, where sound moves much faster, he only managed to avoid a direct hit. The T-sub still took damage.

"Sea engines at ten percent!" Raven said.

"Hull integrity is failing!" Starfire cried.

"The controls aren't responding!" Cyborg said.

Beast Boy screamed.

The mermaid swam in closer to the near-helpless T-sub and screamed again. Direct hit. The sonic blast made the T-subs engine explode and blow the craft to pieces.


	9. A Badger?

The dark mermaid came up and out through the surface of the stormy waters, did a back-flip and splashed back down into the water like a playful dolphin. She was pleased she had served her master, Klarion, well. The submarine had been destroyed, and its crew had perished on the ocean floor below. She spun around under the water and broke through the surface of the water again to look around. She saw nothing save the dark clouds above and the water below. Satisfied, the mermaid returned to her home, an underwater cave on the ocean floor to sleep until she was needed once more—or would have if Starfire hadn't broke through the surface of the water and delivered a two fisted ram-attack to the her chin.

Starfire was small compared to the monster, but her Tamaranian strength more than made up for what she lacked in size. The giant mermaid flew upward again, but this time with none of the grace of her earlier jump, and splashed back down into the water.

The dark mermaid was dazed, but not so much that she didn't see the green great white shark swim straight for her face and bite down on her nose with its maw of razor sharp teeth.

The dark mermaid lashed out with both fists, neither one slowed by the water in which she and the shark swam. She pounded Beast Boy's tender shark frame until he was forced to let go of the mermaid's nose at the pain from her blows. When he tried to flee, the mermaid grabbed him by the tail, swung him around and threw him up out of the water.

Meanwhile, Starfire was flying downward towards the water to continue her attack. Her eyes went wide as a green great white shark broke through the surface of the water and smacked right into her. The two heroes arced upward and then splashed down some distance away.

The mermaid turned her head towards the surface, her nose bloody and torn and her eyes filled with hate. She swam towards the sound of Starfire and Beast Boy's landing in the water with the intension of finishing the two heroes off for good. This left her wide open to a full power blast from Cyborg's large sonic cannon. The blast, magnified in strength by the water, struck the dark mermaid right in the chest and knocked her backward through the water. "She who wrecks the T-sub must pay! How do like the taste of your own sonic medicine?" Cyborg shouted through the loudspeaker built into his aqualung. A panel in his back was open providing him with propulsion.

The mermaid recovered and swam straight for Cyborg. She was furious at the little mostly-metal man. She opened her mouth and unleashed her sonic scream. At the same time, Cyborg fired his sonic cannon again, mentally adjusting the frequency of the cannon to match that of the dark mermaid's scream. The two sound attacks collided and canceled each other out. "Boo-Yah!" Cyborg said, but this moment of verbal ejaculation cost him the second he needed to avoid the still incoming mermaid. She did a snap U-turn just as she reached him and smacked him with the bottom of her tail. The blow sent him flying backward, head over heels, out of control.

The dark mermaid started to swim upward, but suddenly felt a great weight on her tail. She looked down and saw a heavy black ball and chain on her tail. It looked up and saw Raven in a semi-transparent black sphere, her hands aglow with more of her dark soul energy. Zatanna and B'wana Beast flanked Raven inside dark spheres of their own. The mermaid struggled to swim upward again, but Raven's magical ball and chain was too heavy. The dark mermaid reached down to break the ball and chain off with her formidable strength. It was then Starfire, recovered from her mid-air collision with Beast Boy, slammed into the dark mermaid's side like a torpedo and took them both to the ocean floor. Ocean floor dirt filled the water around them like a fog. When it cleared enough for everyone to see, Starfire looked down at her opponent, satisfied that she had knocked out the monster.

She was wrong.

With shark-like reflexes, the mermaid reached out, grabbed Starfire and pulled the Tamaranian teenager towards her. Starfire's eyes filled with green fire and, from them, she unleashed a starbolt surprise attack. The green energy slammed into the mermaid's face knocking her finned head back. However, the monster did not lose its grip on her orange-skinned opponent. The dark mermaid brought Starfire upward, with intent to slam her to the ocean floor, but this action was spoiled when Beast Boy, this time as a green giant squid, wrapped his tentacles around the dark mermaid's arm and swam upward to keep her from bringing Starfire down. The dark mermaid swung her free arm around to hit Beast Boy, but he shape-shifted into a green stout-infantfish, the smallest fish known and the dark mermaid's blow struck nothing but water. Meanwhile, Starfire broke free of the dark mermaid's grip.

"Move, Star!" Cyborg shouted. Starfire rocketed away along the ocean floor while the mermaid looked in the direction of the voice and her eyes met the barrel of Cyborg's sonic cannon.

"Hi there, "Cyborg said and fired.

The dark mermaid screamed.

The two blasts canceled each other out once again, which was fine by Cyborg as he was just looking to distract the dark mermaid anyway. The dark mermaid glared at Cyborg and started to swim towards him, forgetting Raven's ball and chain were still on her. The ball and chain kept the mermaid in place and, angrily, the dark mermaid bent down once again with the intention of snapping the ball and chain on her tail apart. But Raven, now no longer providing protection for Zatanna and B'wana Beast, used all her returned power to yank the ball and chain upward. The mermaid, caught of guard by the ball and chain's sudden acceleration, was flipped tail over head and dragged upward into B'wana Beast's waiting arms. He got a hold on her giant form and brought to bear the power that was his.

Zatanna, who had used her magic to give her and B'wana Beast the ability to breathe underwater to free up Raven, and all the other heroes watched in amazement as B'wana Beast used his power.

The dark mermaid's entire body began to glow with a fire-like energy. Then, her body began to shrink. She struggled to shake B'wana Beast off her, but the hero's gorilla-strength grip would not be denied. Eventually, he got her down to man-size and then, in one final move, he tore the mermaid apart, separating fish from woman and woman from fish.

Immediately, B'wana Beast released the harmless fish to the ocean and swam upward with the now free and very nude woman in his arms, knowing she would surely drown if he did not get her air.

Beast Boy shape-shifted into a green killer whale and swam underneath B'wana Beast. B'wana Beast moved the woman to his left arm and grabbed Beast Boy's dorsal fin. Then, the green-skinned Teen Titan swam for all he was worth. They broke through the ocean's surface and were met by the sun-penetrated clouds of a dying storm. 'Yeah, now it clears up,' Beast Boy thought, with a frown.

All the other heroes broke through the ocean's surface as well. Zatanna immediately spoke and waved her wand, "Retaw ot taobefil." Immediately, water rose up and transformed into a long life boat. Raven used her magic to form large hands of soul energy and used them to lift everyone aboard the vessel. "The storm was probably a result of the magic that created the mermaid. With the mermaid gone, the storm is disappearing too," Raven said.

B'wana Beast did not hear what Raven said. He was focused on the woman in his arms. "She's not breathing," B'wana Beast said and immediately started administering CPR. His technique was extremely kiss-like.

"We're sure she's not breathing?" Zatanna said to Raven as she watched B'wana Beast give the woman mouth to mouth. As he helped her, Bwana noticed an "M" shaped mark on the woman's forehead, a mark all the heroes had seen on her forehead in her mermaid form but thought nothing of. The mark faded away. Then, suddenly, the woman shook and coughed. Water erupted from her mouth. B'wana Beast turned her over and patted her back. Then, when the water seemed to be out of her lungs, he moved back to give her some room. Raven stepped forward and brought the woman into a sitting position. Then she removed her hooded cloak and wrapped it around the woman pulling the hood up for warmth.

"Th-Thank-you," the woman said holding Raven's cloak tightly around her.

"Don't try to talk, rest now. We'll get you out of here as soon as we can," Raven said.

The woman nodded and then glanced up and saw B'wana Beast looking at her. Zatanna looked in his direction as well. She frowned expecting to see a lusty look on the hero's masked face. However, her frown vanished immediately when she saw a genuine look of concern on B'wana Beast's mug and, up until now, something she thought B'wana Beast incapable of showing when looking at a woman—word-drowning awe. The woman smiled weakly back at him.

Cyborg was looking at B'wana Beast too until Beast Boy, who was back in his green-human form, elbowed him. Cyborg looked at Beast Boy. "Guess my man, B'wana's powers weren't so useless after all," Beast Boy said.

"Yeah, like you knew we'd be throwing down with a mermaid," Cyborg said.

"I pity you," Beast Boy said, dismissing Cyborg with a wave of his hand and moving over to B'wana Beast. "Um, Bwana, not to rain on your moment, but we still need to free out friends," Beast Boy said.

"Yes!" Starfire said. "Robin, Batman and Jason still need us."

"Where exactly are they?" B'wana Beast said.

"Right below us, about one-hundred meters below the ocean floor," Raven said.

B'wana Beast thought for a moment.

"Raven, can you get us down there?" B'wana Beast asked.

"No, there's a magical barrier and, from what I can sense, it absorbs mystical and electrical energy. We'll only be able to get down there through natural means."

"You mean, like, with our bare hands?" Cyborg said.

"Yes, but you can't go down there, Cyborg. The barrier would drain your power in no time, Raven said.

"I could do it. I do not need air to do the breathing and I am strong." Starfire said.

"And it would take a long time, Raven said. Time Robin, Batman and Jason may not have," Raven said.

"I guess the bad guys thought of everything," Cyborg said.

Everyone was quiet, each hero trying to think of another option.

"Maybe not," B'wana Beast said. "Zatanna, can you make an animal appear here, say an American badger?"

"Sure, but— Zatanna started.

"Good, do it." B'wana Beast said.

Zatana looked at B'wana Beast like he was crazy.

"Just trust me, okay," B'wana Beast said.

Zatanna took of her hat, and waved her wand at it. "Tah ot regdab" Her hat immediately turned into and American badger. A grumpy animal by nature, it would have tried to bite Zatanna if B'wana Beast had not immediately used his helmet's mind control power to calm it. It curled up in Zatanna's arms.

"Um, no offense, B'wana, but I could have turned into a badger for you," Beast Boy said.

"No, I need you for something else. Beast Boy, turn into the biggest blue whale you can," B'wana Beast said.

Beast Boy looked at B'wana Beast and then a light went on in his green head. He knew what B'wana Beast was planning. "No problem!" Beast Boy said. He jumped out of the life boat and into the water. After a moment he resurfaced as a thirty-three meter green blue whale.

"Wow, I didn't know they came THAT big," Cyborg said.

"I am still not sure what Mr. B'wana Beast is trying to accomplish," Starfire said.

B'wana Beast went over and took the Badger from Zatanna, then he leapt up on top of Beast Boy's massive form. "Ready, Beast Boy?" B'wana Beast said.

Beast Boy spouted water through his blowhole in the affirmative.

B'wana Beast kept the badger in one hand and his other hand on Beast Boy's whale form. The fire-energy that had appeared around the mermaid appeared again, but this time around the badger and Beast Boy. Then, in the next instant, B'wana Beast willed the two beasts to combine, creating a massive green fur-covered badger with four webbed clawed feet and whale's tail.

"Raven, Zatanna, move the water," B'wana Beast said from the chimera's back.

"I don't believe this," Raven said, but she took to the air and did as B'wana ordered.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven said. Her black soul energy moved the boat a safe distance away and then created a massive vertical tunnel to the section of ground their friends were beneath. Then, she forced all the water out—every bit of it-but doing it was like bench pressing a rhino.

Zatanna held her wand up towards Raven, "Dda ym rewop ot sruoy." And, for Raven, Zatanna's additional power turned that rhino into a small dog.

"Moses, eat your heart out," Cyborg said.

"Let's go, Beast Boy," B'wana Beast said, using his mind control power to keep the badger's mind from interfering with Beast Boy's thoughts.

Beast Boy, in his new massive form, climbed down Raven and Zatanna's massive tunnel and, once Beast Boy reached the exposed ocean floor, he started to dig-fast. B'wana Beast waved to Starfire and had her bring him back up to the boat. All the heroes and, even the woman they rescued, watched amazed as the badger-whale dug a massive hole with amazing speed through the ocean floor below.

"American Badgers are the fastest digging animals in the world—they even use digging to escape predators. Blue whales are the largest and damn strong too. As you can see, together, they make one mean green natural digging machine. This chimera should get us through to Bats and the other guys in no time," B'wana Beast said.

"I see it, but I don't believe it," Cyborg said.

"Your power is truly useful and amazing, Mr. B'wana Beast. Do you not think so, Cyborg?" Starfire said.

"I take it back," Cyborg said. "I take it all back."


	10. Questionable Evil

The stars in the clear prairie night sky mean different things to different people when they see them. To the green-skinned Martian J'onn J'onzz, they were things of beauty, but also a reminder that Earth was not his true home. That somewhere, up amongst those stars, the lifeless red husk of his home world orbited the same sun as the planet on which he now walked. To the shorter faceless man walking next to him in the blue overcoat and fedora, The Question, they were first and foremost a group of lights used to conceal spy satellites from the casual observer.

The Question took out a small palm-sized aerosol can from his coat pocket and sprayed it on his face. It allowed him to remove his faceless pseudoderm mask and change his black hair to red-brown—becoming his secret identity: investigative journalist Vic Sage. He quickly replaced the mask with another pseudoderm mask from his coat. This one of a non-descript man with brown hair. He bonded it to his face with a different aerosol from his coat. Then, he reversed his coat making it a brown one instead of a blue one and collapsed his fedora to the size of a CD, which he then pocketed.

The Question pulled up his collar and started walking into the town. "I don't like small towns. They're queer," The Question said.

"How so?" J'onn said. The Martian was walking beside him.

The Question gestured to the town before them, "Dog River. Small town. Population: four hundred fifty. Notable aspects: a building that is both the town liquor store and the town insurance store."

J'onn shape-shifted his form to look, too, like a non-descript human. His new form included a puffy jacket and jeans suitable for the cool prairie night. He walked beside The Question. "Ironic perhaps, but not unusual for small town life," J'onn said.

"The city's first building, a wooden shack, was burned to the ground because the arsonist, one Hank Yarbo, wanted to maintain the accuracy of his LEGO scale model of the town—he ran out of blocks before he could build the shack, he told the judge," The Question said.

J'onn looked over at the Question, his eyebrow raised.

The Question continued, "Two children who used the shack as a play house were sleeping inside at the time. They died in the fire."

J'onn's mouth opened.

"Yarbo said he had did not know the children were inside and had not intended to kill them, but that he did enjoy the sound of their screams," The Question said.

J'onn said nothing. He could not find the words.

The Question put his hands in his pockets. "Like I said, queer."

"We'll keep our guard up," J'onn said. "We should go into one of the restaurants or bars and ask where we can find Mr. Garabaldi."

"No, towns this small don't react too well to strangers, especially at night, and time isn't on our side. Do a psychic sweep of the town and find him."

"Very well," J'onn said. J'onn's eyes glowed yellow with the fire of his mental powers as he used them to search the town. After a moment, the fire in his eyes dimmed and then died. "Strange," J'onn said.

"What is it?" the Question said.

"I sense Garabaldi, but the sensation is weak, more like a psychic impression than an actual presence." In fact, that goes for every person in this town."

"The FBI records I checked listed him as still alive," The Question said. "However, if they're wrong, I'm not surprised. I have very little faith in official government records."

"Come, this way," Jonn said. The two men picked up their pace.

The Question followed J'onn along Dog River's Main Street, until the Martian turned off it into a residential area. They were forced to stop when a Royal Canadian Mounted Police car rolled into the intersection in front of them.

The Question frowned, "Just what we need."

"I'll handle it," J'onn said.

The uniformed RCMP officer—in brown officer garb, not Mounties-red, got out of his cruiser with his partner. He flashed a light on the two Justice League members. "Kind of late for a walk through town isn't it, gentlemen?"

J'onn reached out with his psychic abilities. It would be a simple feat to mentally render the officers unconscious. "Ahhhhh!" He dropped to his knees.

"J'onn!" The Question said, looking at the Martian who was holding his head in his hands like it was going to explode. Then he turned back to face the Mounties who were walking towards them.

"They're—possessed!" J'onn forced himself to say. His voice fell to a whisper. 'So-evil."

The Question took a fighting stance, not sure what to expect. Suddenly, the first Mountie's ribs snapped his chest open from the inside and a bunch of blood-soaked tentacles rocketed out from where the man's guts should have been. The Question's eyes went wide with terror as the tentacles wrapped themselves around his arms, legs and waist with the speed of a whip. They pulled him to the ground. He struggled against the bloody appendages as they drew him toward a horrible maw of sharp teeth inside the Mountie's chest. The Mountie's head had a wide grin that sent shivers down The Question's spine.

Then, just as suddenly, a diamond blade came down and sliced through the tentacles. The Mountie screamed at the now recovered J'onn J'onzz who had shape-shifted his arm into diamond blade. Then, J'onn moved forward and punched the tentacle-Mountie in the jaw. The blow knocked the horrible thing back against the RCMP cruiser.

However, the tables were quickly turned once again when J'onn was hit with an energy blast that made him stagger backward. The Question who was getting the now lifeless blood-soaked tentacles off himself looked for the source of the blast. He saw that the other Mounties' mouth was open impossibly wide and inside his mouth was a big eyeball cracking with energy. It fired on J'onn again with more power this time. The blast knocked the Martian back through the air into a wooden street sign. The street sign broke from the impact and J'onn continued flying out of control through the front window of a home. The pain from the blast forced J'onn to revert back to his blue-caped green-skinned form. Massive spider-like legs burst out of the sides of the eye-mouth Mountie's head and spider-like fangs burst out of its chin. It raised itself up on these new legs and skittered after J'onn, its human body hanging in the air with the Mountie's gun in its right hand.

The Question was going to go after the spider-thing when another tentacle grabbed his leg. He turned and saw the tentacles of the Mountie that had attacked him before were almost completely regenerated. The Question reached inside his coat and drew two Q-shaped shuriken from it. He pressed a near flat button on the weapons and threw them at the monster. They went into the monster's chest-mouth and electrified the monster on contact. It fell to the ground twitching with smoke rising from its body.

Meanwhile, the spider-Mountie closed in on the window it had blasted J'onn through, planning to finish the Martian off. The monster found him, but instead of lying on the ground unconscious, J'onn was coming at him with the speed of a ground-to-ground missile. Jonn hit the monster with both fists sending it flying backward, however the beast rolled with the punch and turned what should have been an out of control flight onto the street into a big reasonably controlled leap backward. It fired on J'onn again with its eye. J'onn avoided the attack, but kept his flight pattern tight to the blast so that the blast passed over him with only a few centimeters to spare. J'onn reached the monster and delivered three super-strength blows to it, the last one making a 'KROOM'-like sound when it hit. This time the monster flew back out of control and The Question had to get out of the way of the incoming mass of body and flailing legs. The spider-Mountie hit the police cruiser hard, collapsing the hood and crushing the front window with its body. The Question rolled on the street and came up facing the cruiser. He threw another two Q-shaped shuriken. One struck the spider-Mountie in the head the other in its chest. The monster screamed—a sound like nails on a chalkboard as the shuriken electrocuted the monster into unconsciousness.

The Question let out a sigh of relief.

"It's not over!" J'onn said. The Question looked around and saw that other townspeople from the houses around them were coming out of their homes and walking towards them, wide, devilish grins on their faces. The white streetlights reflected off their teeth.

J'onn grabbed The Question under his arm and flew upward. "The whole town's possessed, we need reinforcements!"

The Question put his hand to his communicator. "Question to Watchtower."

Static.

"Question to Metro-Tower."

Static.

"My com-links not working," The Question said.

"Mine too and something is blocking my telepathy," J'onn said. "We have to-suddenly, J'onn hit something that felt like a force field, but the second he made contact he knew it was a psychic construct. J'onn and The Question cried out as the energy in the barrier moved through their bodies like angry electric snakes and they fell downward to the waiting monsters below. J'onn managed to fall on his back with The Question on top of him before he lost consciousness. The last things he and The Question saw were the possessed humans' teeth-filled smiles closing in all around them.

X X X

The Question woke up and discovered he was chained to a chandelier by his wrists. The building he was in appeared to be some kind of town hall. He looked down at the floor twenty feet below and saw possessed townspeople milling around. Some of them looked up and smiled hungrily at him. In the centre, The Question saw a huge vaguely R-shaped symbol glowing bright blue.

"This body is amazing," said a voice. The Question looked over and saw J'onn, but he knew immediately he was looking at something else in the Martian's body.

"What are you?" The Question said.

The thing looked up and then flew up to eye level with the Question. , "Ah, awake, are you? Good." It stretched out its arms. "Welcome to the end of the world."

"You didn't answer my Question," The Question said.

"Do I have to? You've fought my children, after all," the thing said.

"You're a demon," the Question said.

"Yes, and an extremely powerful one at that, summoned here by a spell cast long ago to bring an end to all things human," the demon said.

"Why?" The Question said.

"Does a demon really need a reason to want to destroy a world?" the demon said.

The Question's eyes narrowed. "True, but the one who summoned him does."

"Touché. Very well, I'll tell you. Long ago an Indian shaman—the thing used J'onn's body to morph into the Indian shaman's form-had a vision that man would grow and become so powerful that he would eventually destroy the Earth with his—he morphed into a soldier—'wars,-he morphed into a man in a radiation suit—'pollution, and—he morphed into a two headed goat—'biotechnology. So, he cast a spell that, in exchange for his soul, would release a demon—that's me-onto this world if the things in his vision began to come to pass. They have, so here I am. And now, with this Martian body, I will be unstoppable. It's so much sturdier than the frail bodies of humanity."

"So, the big blue floor ornament down there is to bring more demons into this world?" The Question said.

"You study the occult. Impressive. Yes, I will bring more of my children to this world, and together we will work until every human soul is ours, cleansing the world of human life as the shaman desired," the demon said.

"And you left me in one piece to bear witness to all of this?" The Question said.

The demon took a hold of the Question's chin with two fingers. "And you were doing so well. No, we were simply waiting for you to regain consciousness. Possessing someone is so much more fun when they're awake." The demon gestured to himself, 'You should have heard your friend here scream." The demon-Martian's eyes glowed blood red and the chains that held The Question started to grow, lowering him towards the demon's children below. A demon stepped out of the floor through the blue symbol—a fat one that looked like a blowfish complete with nasty spikes. It smiled as its new body with its fresh soul to feast on drew near.

The Question pushed the horrible things around him out of his mind and looked hard at the large symbol glowing on the floor, which grew larger as he was lowered towards it. Suddenly his eyes went wide as a memory filled his mind. "Arknoben Telstuul Narkslobenark Vasten!" The Question shouted.

Suddenly, the room they were in vanished. The demon and The Question reappeared in the room in the Metro Tower med-wing where Huntress lay sleeping—at least it looked like that room. The Tachyon field generator was working hard to keep her from fading away. The Question was back in his faceless mask, blue overcoat and blue fedora. "Why are we here?" The Question said. His voice echoed slightly as if speaking in a dream.

The demon, still in J'onn's body, growled. "How did you know my true name?" it demanded. Its voice echoed slightly too.

"I once worked on a case with Dr. Fate. He had me memorize the demon alphabet, just in case. I saw your name written in that big blue gate of yours," The Question said.

"Curse that gold-helmeted trickster! May I have the pleasure of feasting on his heart!" the demon spat.

The Question looked down at Helena, "Why are we here?" The Question demanded.

"Human fool! You know the words to challenge me but not the price," the demon said.

"I don't- The Question began.

"Understand? Yes, of course you don't. The words you shouted at the top of your lungs work thus: You must defeat me in a challenge of my choosing. If you win, my children and I will return to the hell from which we came, and you will save your precious world. But if I win, I get the world, your soul and—the demon shape-shifted into an exact copy of the Huntress including her voice—'that which is most precious to you."

"But the temporal conflict- the Question began.

"Means nothing to the overriding concepts of Heaven and Hell. And I promise you this: when I win I will make you watch me devour her soul. This is the additional cost of your interference," the demon growled.

The Question looked down at Helena. He thought a silent apology to her for getting her involved in this. He looked up at the demon. "I want one more thing. If I win you will give the information I need to save this woman, and restore this town."

The demon looked at The Question. The anger on its face , and it raised an amused eyebrow. The demon laughed.

The Question did not flinch.

"Your bargaining posture is highly dubious, but very well. Your foolish courage amuses me. Therefore, if you win, I will also give you these things. Knowing you lost them as well will only add to your pain when you fail," the demon said.

The Question looked the demon in the eyes while trying to ignore the fact the demon had taken Huntress's form just to distract him. Trying and failing. "Bring it on," The Question said.

The demon grinned. "In this state of limbo, my power is near equal to the great dark one himself. If you can give me a task that I cannot accomplish with my power, I will surrender. And because I have a fondness for irony, I will allow you three—the demon cleared his throat and smiled—'questions, to help you make your decision."

"That's it?" the Question said.

"Yes, in answer to your first question." The demon smiled wide with Huntress' lips. 'Two questions left."

The Question took a step back and a deathly cold chill went down his spine. He cursed for speaking without thinking. Then, The Question steeled himself, narrowed his eyes behind his faceless mask, and locked them on the demon.

"Take your time, hero. I have eternity. However,-the demon looked down at Huntress on the examination room table—'I'm pretty sure she doesn't."

The Question was silent, the gears in his mind turning. Finally, he spoke. "If you're so powerful, why don't you just destroy the world and be done with it?"

"True, I could. But where's the fun in that? Humans are so much fun to watch lose hope and then slowly rip apart, especially the super-powered ones. So, I chose this possession method. Yes, I know it's slow, but to me it seemed the most entertaining. Don't worry though, after I've had my fun, I'll make sure this place goes out with a bang. You see, I've destroyed countless worlds in the multi-verse in my time, but I like to savor each one." The demon-Huntress blew the Question a kiss. 'One question left."

The Question tried to think, but that was becoming more and more difficult. He was still angry at himself for wasting his first question and his second question had not provided him with anything he could use despite how carefully he had planned it. But, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, even a mind like The Question's was bound to weaken under the stress. A cold sweat was on his body now. If he screwed this up it meant the end of Helena, the end of everything. What he wouldn't give to see her up and about once more, to feel her skin against his. Then the Question did something he had not done in years, he prayed.

Nothing happened.

The Question was not surprised. God was famous for his lack of help. And then, of all the unexpected things to do, the Question chuckled. In search of comfort from the hellishly precarious situation he was now in, The Question's mind remembered the night Helena had come over to his place and forced him to watch that movie on DVD, what was it called? Ah yes, The Island. She had a thing for Ewan McGregor. In it, Ewan McGregor's character, a naive clone grown for transplant surgery, had asked his friend who God was. His friend said something like, 'You know when you wish really hard for something? God's the guy that ignores you.' The Question realized now, more than ever, how true that was. He looked at Helena on the table. He remembered how that night she had also brought microwavable popcorn with her and, after stinking up his microwave with it, offered him some. He turned it down. However, halfway through the movie, he got hungry and without thinking reached for some of the stuff. She had playfully told him to—

"My god," The Question suddenly whispered.

The demon laughed. "He's overrated."

The Question pulled himself together. "You can go anywhere in the multiverse?" The Question said.

"You bet, the demon said. The Dark One likes us to be able to get to a soul and bring it home no matter where it may be. I can go anywhere and come back with but a thought." The demon laughed. 'I don't even have to ask for directions." Then, smiling, the demon started to transform. It grew bigger and bigger leaving Helena's form behind and now looked like a giant ebon-winged monster with fire for insides and more muscles than The Question had ever seen. The demon roared. 'YOU ARE OUT OF QUESTIONS, LITTLE MAN. NOW TELL ME THIS TASK YOU THINK I CANNOT PERFORM, SO THAT I CAN PROVE YOU WRONG AND RETURN TO DESTROYING THIS WORLD STARTING WITH YOUR PRECIOUS HUNTRESS!"

The Question smiled behind his mask, "It not a task. It's a command."

The demon raised a giant eyebrow.

"Get lost." the Question said.

The demon's eyes went wide. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Then, it disappeared in a ball of fire.

X X X

The Question was disoriented. He felt his body move in all directions at once. Suddenly, he found himself on a dark rooftop, with almost no light. He was standing next to The Batman whose dark form suddenly appearing beside him made The Question gasp and take a couple of steps back. The Batman did not acknowledge him. It was as if the Dark Knight did not even know the Question was there. Standing in front of The Batman was Agent Garabaldi, a little younger than the recent photo in his FBI file. He was talking to The Batman who was holding a baby. The baby was cooing and squirming slightly in The Batman's arms.

"You no longer need this child, Garibaldi. Poison Ivy cured it," The Batman said.

Garabaldi frowned. "We'll see about that. Batman, with the full authority of the United States government, I order you to let me take a sample of the child's blood. It's the only way to determine if the child is not part of project Digitalis. If you refuse, I swear I'll have the entire U.S. military ripping up Gotham until they find you and shoot you down like a dog," Garabaldi said.

The Batman gritted his teeth. After a moment, he spoke. "All right."

Garabaldi took out a hypo-gun and put it against the child who made a sound of complaint. There was a brief hissing sound and the baby started to cry. Then, Garabaldi took the vial of collected blood out of the hypo-gun and put it in a portable analyzer. Garabaldi's face went white. "It's—It's negative. How? Why did she-

"You've got what you came for, Garibaldi. Now leave before I take you down for kidnapping," The Batman growled.

"But—Garabaldi started.

"LEAVE!" The Batman said.

Garabaldi fled like a frightened gopher off the roof and down the fire escape. After a few moments, The Question watched The Batman walk over to the edge of the roof to make sure Garabaldi was gone. Then, The Dark Knight moved the baby to one arm and replaced his glove on his bare hand, but not before looking at it to see the little hole and trickle of blood left behind on his skin.

"My god," was all The Question could say.

Then, suddenly he was in the computer room of the Metro Tower Medical wing. J'onn and The Batman were talking and what he heard made the Question grind his teeth.


	11. The Mudnificent Seven

Scrapping noises started to fill the underground cave. They were faint at first, but slowly became louder and louder. "What's that?" Jason Blood said.

"Our way out," Robin said smiling. Then a giant green webbed paw broke through the cave ceiling.

"Beast Boy!" Robin shouted.

The giant webbed paw had barely withdrawn from the hole it made when an orange streak came through it. "Robin!" cried Starfire.

"Starfire!" Robin said.

Starfire landed in front of the barrier. Robin hurried towards her. The thin layer of magic glass separated their hands. "How do we get you out of here?" Starfire said.

Robin looked at The Batman.

"Jason?" The Batman said.

"We have to overload it: hit it with more power than it can withstand, but the power has to be magic or energy based. Physical attacks won't do it," Jason said.

"Then I shall do so. Please move as far back as you can," Starfire said. The Batman, Robin, and Jason Blood all moved to the far end of the sphere. The Batman covered his partner and his friend beneath his Kevlar reinforced cape. Starfire took to the air and, when she was back a few meters, she started to make her hands glow with neon green with power. Then, she unleashed this power on the sphere in a continuous blast.

Meanwhile, B'wana Beast and Cyborg slid down Raven and Zatanna's magical chute to join Beast Boy in the cave. B'wana Beast immediately used his power to separate Beast Boy and the American Badger. The Badger transformed back into Zatanna's magician's hat, and the hat flew up and landed on Zatanna's head. The three heroes saw Starfire firing her green starbolt energy at the magical sphere.

"We must overload it with energy to destroy it!" Starfire said.

"I gotcha," Cyborg said as he landed. He put his hands together and morphed them into one huge sonic cannon. He opened fire adding his power to Starfire's.

"And we'll just, um- Beast Boy began.

"Watch?" B'wana Beast offered.

"Yeah, I guess," Beast Boy said and he took a seat on the ground next to B'wana Beast's feet.

The magical sphere lit up with the energy Starfire and Cyborg were using against it. The Batman, Robin, and Jason Blood started to sweat as the temperature in the sphere began to rise.

"I don't think we're enough, Star," Cyborg said after they had been firing on the thing for five minutes.

Starfire growled and grit her teeth. "My Robin shall not be caged!" she said. Then, the whole cave filled with green light as Starfire's power output doubled.

"Whoa," Beast Boy said.

"Whoa is right," B'wana Beast added. "Look." B'wana Beast was not pointing at the sphere. He was pointing at another part of the cave where the mud from the cave floor had risen in seven different spots. The mud moved and formed as if the hands of invisible super-fast sculptors were upon them. When the shaping was done, seven figures with glowing green eyes stood before the two heroes.

"Oh man," Beast Boy said.

"Hardly," B'wana Beast said.

Just then, the magical prison shattered, sending green magical sparkles everywhere.

Starfire was drained. She fell out of the sky like a rag doll dropped by a child. Cyborg morphed his hands out of cannon form just in tome to catch her. The Batman stood with Jason, while Robin immediately dashed to Starfire's side.

"She's okay. Just exhausted," Cyborg said to Robin. He passed her to him.

"Starfire?" Robin said to the girl in his arms.

Starfire, opened her eyes slowly, putting what was left of her will against the sleep her body was demanding. "You are okay?" she whispered.

"We are now, thanks to you," Robin said.

She smiled and then promptly fell asleep.

The Batman and Jason Blood walked up next to Robin and Cyborg at the same time Beast Boy and B'wana Beast backed up close to them.

"Um, guys. I think we have a problem." B'wana Beast said.

The heroes all looked ahead and saw seven pairs of glowing green eyes moving towards them. Batman's eyes narrowed as he made out their shapes. Huntress, Vixen, Shayera Hol, Zatanna, Fire, Black Canary, and Wonder Woman, in full color and costume.

"Of course it's not really them," Robin said.

"We saw them form out of the mud on the cave floor," Beast Boy said.

The Batman drew an explosive Batarang from his utility belt and pressed the thin button on its surface. "Good, then they're not alive." He threw the Batarang at the likeness of Wonder Woman. The weapon whistled through the air and struck the doppelganger in the centre of her chest and exploded exploded. The mud creature's torso was blown apart, and the others creatures started running in different directions. However,, just as quickly as it exploded, the Wonder Woman doppleganger reformed. It gave The Batman a wink.

"Okay, this is going to be tough," Beast Boy said.

The Batman grimaced. "There has to be a way to beat them. Hold them off until we figure it out." The Batman looked at his friend. "Jason, we could use some help here."

Jason Blood took a step backwards. "Gone, gone the form of man. Arise the demon, Etrigan!" In a burst of fire and brimstone, Jason Blood was gone. In his place stood the squat yellow form of Etrigan, demon of the pit. The demon resembled a muscular human with small horns batwing-like ears and hell-fire red eyes. His torn blue cape over his red garmented shoulders did not move in the windless cave.

"I smell the stink of Klarion's magic here," Etrigan said, his words were half a growl. "How in Tartarus did that witch-boy escape his prison?"

"When we find him, you can ask him!" The Batman said.

Beast Boy shape-shifted into a Velociraptor and he and B'wana Beast ran forward to take on the incoming doppelgangers. Robin laid Starfire on the ground and took a defensive stance over her, explosive Birdarangs at the ready to throw at any of the doppelgangers that would try to close in on them.

"Let's just hope they don't have— Suddenly, Bwana Beast was hit by a sonic blast from the Black Canary doppelganger's mouth. He flew threw the air forcing The Batman and Etrigan to hit the ground as he flew over them. He smacked against the cave wall. The rest of his sentence was a groan—'the same powers."

Immediately, Etrigan got to his feet and belched forth a stream of hellfire. It struck the Black Canary doppelganger. Immediately, the woman melted into the shapeless mud that formed her. Etrigan stopped his fire and, right away, the doppelganger started to reform, albeit a little more slowly. "Hellfire slows them down!" Etrigan shouted and leapt into the air after the doppelganger of Fire. The Fire doppelganger fired its green flame at Etrigan and only succeeded in making him angrier.

"But it doesn't stop them," the Batman said as he prepared to take on the angry form of the Wonder Woman doppelganger who was flying towards him like a missile. Suddenly, a sonic blast knocked her off course. She lost control and slammed into the cave wall.

"Boo-yah!" Cyborg shouted, but then was immediately knocked off his feet by a mace attack from behind by the Shayera doppelganger. He rolled with the attack and came up to face the incoming winged-woman. He fired his sonic cannon knocking her backward through the air and into the cave wall as well.

Etrigan, who had managed to pull the Fire Doppelganger out of the air, stopped pounding on her for a moment to look at where the Wonder Woman doppelganger had crashed. Blood red energy beams erupted from his eyes. A moment after the beams impacted with the body of the mud Wonder Woman in the rock, the energy they deposited there exploded, blowing the Wonder Woman doppelganger apart even more.

B'wana Beast had recovered from the blast he had taken before. He was holding his own against the Huntress and Vixen doppelgangers' storm of punches and kicks, but just barely. He ducked a roundhouse kick from Huntress and managed to knock the Vixen doppelganger backward with a full strength palm strike, but the strike left him wide open to another kick from the Huntress doppelganger. She knocked B'wana Beast off his feet and then drew, aimed, and shot him in the heart with her crossbow—or would have if a big green charging rhino had not slammed into her, running her through with it's horn and pinning her struggling form against the cave wall. In the next instant, Beast Boy morphed into a gorilla and continued pounding at the Huntress doppelganger's muddy shape as it tried to reform itself. 'This is just so wrong,' Beast Boy thought.

The Vixen doppelganger leapt backward and touched the stone fox totem on the necklace on its neck to gave itself the mass and power of an elephant. It started running at B'wana Beast. B'wana Beast smiled. "I was waiting for you to try something like that." He crouched then leapt upward. The Vixen doppelganger passed beneath him. Then, when he hit the ground, B'wana Beast reached into the doppelganger simple mind with his helmet's mind control powers. "If it has animal in it, even just a little, I can control it," B'wana Beast said and promptly directed the stampeding Vixen doppelganger to trample the just reformed doppelganger of Black Canary, smooshing the blonde back into squirming mud under the Vixen doppelganger's feet.

Robin got an idea as he watched Cyborg battle the Shayera doppelganger. He dropped his birdarangs and drew a small disk, almost like a mini-flying saucer, from his utility belt. He threw it. The disk hit the Shayera doppelganger and immediately froze the moisture in it and in the air around it, encasing the doppelganger in ice. The monster fell to the ground and broke into pieces. However, because the mud that it was made up of still trapped in ice, it could not reform.

"Awesome!" Cyborg said.

"Freeze them!" Robin started to shout, but his shout fell silent when he saw that the Batman had already frozen the Zatanna and the Wonder Woman doppelgangers and they were lying at his feet in pieces.

"He's always two steps ahead of me," Robin said with a smirk. He reached into his utility belt for another chryodisk and threw it at the only partially reformed Black Canary doppelganger, it froze the creature solid.

Cyborg blasted the Black Canary doppelganger to pieces with his sonic cannon and then took position beside Robin and watched the Batman. "That guy's just too cool, Cyborg said. Cyborg mussed Robin's hair with his metal hand. "Don't sweat it, Robin, we still love you."

"Gee thanks," Robin said. He pulled two more chryodisks from his belt. "Stay here and watch over Starfire. I'll go help the others."

The Batman moved in beside Etrigan who had just finished freezing the Fire Doppleganger with his hell-magic. The Batman threw another chryo-batarang and froze the Vixen doppelganger in her tracks. The momentum it had built up under B'wana Beasts control sent it smashing into the cave wall where it broke apart. B'wana Beast gave The Batman a thumbs-up. Robin aided Beast Boy by freezing the Huntress doppelganger with another one of his chryodisks.

"All right!," Cyborg said.

"Robin, gather your team. We're getting out of here!" The Batman said.

Robin, who was standing with Beast Boy, turned and nodded to The Batman.

"It's kind of strange seeing you take orders," Beast Boy said smiling.

"I'll bet," Robin said with a smirk.

A few minutes later, to Raven and Zatanna's relief, the heroes were all back aboard Zatanna's boat. The two magic women ceased their spells and let the ocean retake the spot they had cleared.

"I need to get to Kaznia now. Tell me we've got better transport than this," The Batman said.

"I'm afraid not," Zatanna said.

"I can send you," Etrigan said.

"No. If I use magic transport it might give Klarion a chance to mess with me again." The Batman put two fingers to his ear, "Watchtower, this is Batman. I need a Javelin, now."

"No can do, Bats."

"Flash? Why isn't Mr. Terrific at the com-station?" The Batman said.

"All the Javelins in the bay aren't working for some reason. The transporters are out too. Mr. T is with the rest of the eggheads trying to figure out why. Sorry."

"Perfect. Just perfect," the Batman growled. "Okay, keep me informed, Batman out."

"What's wrong?" Zatanna said.

"The Javelins aren't functioning," The Batman said

"Klarion?" Zatanna said looking at Etrigan.

"If it is, he's grown immensely more powerful than he was when The Batman, Robin and I faced him in Gotham." Etrigan growled.

"I can take you," Starfire said weakly. Half asleep, she tried to get up, but fell back into Robin and Cyborg's arms.

"Whoa there, Star," Cyborg said.

The Batman looked at Starfire, "You are hardly in any condition to—

Zatanna smiled, "I can fix that. I know an invigoration spell, but—

"But what?" The Batman said.

"I'll need to transfer the energy of one of you standing here into her and you'll be tired as all heck after I do it."

"I'll do it," Robin said.

The Batman looked at Robin, then Starfire. He thought of Huntress on the bed in the med-wing. Fine," he finally said.

Starfire looked over at Robin. She mouthed a thank-you to him. Robin smiled back.

The Batman looked at Zatanna.

"Don't worry, after a good rest, Robin will be right as rain," Zatanna said, but she did not move until The Batman nodded. She put one hand on Robin and another on Starfire. "Are you ready?"

"Do it," Robin said.

"Tel eht htgnerts fo eno wolf ot eht rehto," Zatanna said. A white light appeared around Robin, flowed through Zatanna and into Starfire. When it was over, Robin collapsed into Raven and Beast Boy's arms. He was fast asleep.

Starfire, on the other hand, was invigorated. There was no trace of the exhaustion she felt before Zatanna's spell. She walked over to Robin who was snoring away with a snot bubble inflating and deflating from his left nostril. She kissed him on the forehead. Starfire looked at all the heroes in the boat. "Please take care of him everyone,"

"We will," Raven said.

Starfire walked over to the Batman "Please put your arm around me and hold on."

The Batman looked at her. She was shorter than he was. "Are you trembling?" The Batman said.

"N-No," Starfire said. She took a breath to calm herself and then flew gently upward and hovered at the Batman's height. "Please," she said again. The Batman did as Starfire requested, and then she flew them both up into the sky.


	12. Canary Burger for Two

"Mmmmph," Black Canary said dizzily. Then, she would have swore, but the duct tape over her mouth kept her from doing so. She also would have put her hand to her head, but her hands were tied with rope, and the rope was tied to a hook. She looked down and saw she was hanging over a nasty looking meat grinder. The grinder reminded Black Canary of a turbine and was more than big enough to slice her into hamburger if someone decided to lower her into it.

She looked ahead and saw eight big men dressed in suits, playing cards at an old metal table below her. They wore simple 8-shaped eye-masks, probably held to their faces with some kind of skin adhesive. Black Canary recognized them. Their wardrobe had improved from the gym sweat outfits they used to wear, but there was no mistaking it. She was a prisoner of the Two Ton-Gang. What had happened? Oh yeah, she remembered now. She had disguised herself as a street-walker and started asking around the streets of Gotham for Matches Malone, hiding behind the story that he had run out on her and still owed her money for services rendered. She had managed to gain the sympathies of one man nicknamed Mad Dog. He had agreed to help her find Matches when he suddenly got a phone call from his boss. Mad Dog and his boss talked for a minute, with Mad Dog asking his boss if he knew where a guy named Matches Malone might be just before he hung up. Afterwards, Mad Dog told Black Canary she could find Matches Malone hiding out at the abandoned Sunders meat-packing plant. She thanked him and, in her haste to leave, turned her back on him. He zapped her in the back with a high-powered stun-gun. That was when everything went black.

Black Canary watched now as Mad Dog walked towards the poker table below. He was wearing a brown trench coat and fedora over his suit. He had two bigger than normal front teeth. He looked up at her. "Look boys, our little Justice League hooker is awake."

The masked men at the table looked up from their cards. One of them smiled, "Heh, always wondered how them capes paid for those towers of theirs. Who'd of thought it was pimping?"

The men all laughed.

Black Canary frowned at them, wrinkling the tape on her mouth.

"Keep an eye on her boys. I'll get the boss. He wants to have a word with her before we turn her into hamburger. Who knows, if you do a good job, he might let you play with her beforehand," Mad Dog said.

The two-ton gang all laughed, while looking up at Black Canary with hungry eyes. The short skirt she was wearing did not help matters.

Black Canary started running through her options for escape. She looked up. She could probably swing her legs up over her head and eventually get a hold of the line of the hook she was tied to with her legs. Then she could climb up it and that would give her enough slack to free her wrists, but that would be something the Two-Ton gang below would easily notice. She looked down at the meat grinder. It was not on. If she could somehow cut the ropes on her wrists, she could land on the grinder then jump off it and away before they activated it. No, there was not going to be any cutting. Her captors had searched her well and taken all her concealed equipment. She could even fell the absence of her Justice League com-link in her ear. Damn. The bad guys were getting smarter these days.

Suddenly, Black Canary heard a voice. It sounded like two concrete blocks being rubbed together underwater. It made her gasp. "I had half a mind to drop you into the grinder while you were unconscious." A horribly burned fist appeared in the light from out of the shadows, with a two-headed silver dollar on top of it. It flipped the coin into the air with its thumb, and caught it on its way back down. 'But I lost the coin toss."

Black Canary went wide-eyed as she looked upon the split visage of Two-Face-the right side of his face the visage of former district attorney Harvey Dent, the left side a burned and twisted mockery of it. In his other hand he had the dark-haired wig Black Canary had been wearing as part of her disguise. He threw it on the poker table.

"The odds of guys like me making a decent take used to be so much better before you hero types got organized." He looked straight at Black Canary. "But as you can tell from your current predicament, we still get lucky now and again. You thought by asking around for Matches Malone you could find who you were looking for and go unnoticed in my world? Think again. I'm always two steps ahead of every other criminal in this town. Oh, and forgive me if I don't give you a chance to say a few last words, but I know when dealing with Black Canary it's best to make sure she keeps her trap shut." He flipped his coin into the air. It landed in his palm, scarred heads up. He put the coin in his pocket. 'Grind her up, boys, and let's have one less Justice Leaguer in the world."

Two-Face watched as two members of the Two-Ton gang got to their feet. One went over to the lever that activated the meat grinder. The other went to the lever that controlled the hook and line Black Canary hung from. They pulled the two levers at the exact same.—or would have if two batarangs had not come from opposite sides of the room and jammed up the levers before the two-ton gang members could pull them in the direction they intended. Distracted by the clang of the batarangs against the levers' metal, Two face and his crew were not ready for a green smoke arrow that landed smack at Two-Face's feet. Everyone on the meat-packing plant floor started coughing as smoke took over the room.

Batgirl and Nightwing followed their Batarangs and each delivered a flying kick to the gang members who had tried to pull the levers and send Black Canary to her death. They flew backward, but not as far as they would have had they been less bulky men. Special lenses in their eye-masks let Batgirl and Nightwing see through the smoke and simple nose-mouth gasmasks kept the smoke out of their lungs. They ran into the smoke cloud and started punching the jaws and kicking the bodies of the rest of Two-Face's men.

Nightwing and Batgirl's assault was short-lived. Two-Face stepped back, pulled his two automatic pistols from their holsters inside his jacket, fought his coughing reflex, and started shooting wild. The shots echoed inside the big meat packing plant. Batgirl felt a bullet whiz past her ear, while another went through her cape. Another bullet knocked a batarang Nightwing was about to throw out of his hand. The two heroes dove away in opposite directions, seeking cover. They heard a few members of the Two-Ton gang cry out in pain. "Boss, what the hell are you doing?" another Two-Ton gang member said between coughs.

"I'm not going back to Arkham!" Two-Face said and continued firing as he made his way towards the grinder lever through the now thinning smoke. He kicked the batarang jamming the lever loose and then kicked the lever into the on position. The grinder started up. Then, he shot the rope holding Black Canary to the hook.

Black Canary, who had almost gotten herself free, thanks to a sharp Batarang Nightwing had tossed to her after the smoke arrow landed, was now in freefall towards the grinder's waiting teeth. She had just started a closed mouth scream, when Green Arrow swung out and caught her. They continued swinging, and Green Arrow brought them to a stop on a beam in the ceiling. He leaned her up on her feet against one of the beams, where she continued working on her ropes with the batarang. "Miss me," Green Arrow said as he put an impact arrow into his bow.

Green Arrow let the impact arrow fly and it hit Two-Face square in the chest. The arrow's electric charge stunned him and made him drop his guns. Batgirl was on him immediately. She turned him over on his front and cuffed him, while Nightwing started to polished off the rest of the Two-Ton gang. Green Arrow lent Nightwing a hand, with a couple of boxing glove arrows to a couple of jaws from his position in the beams above.

After the last Two-Ton gang member fell, Nightwing picked up one of Green Arrow's boxing glove arrows and then looked at the emerald archer with a raised eyebrow.

"What? They work, don't they?" Green Arrow said.

X X X

After they finished tending to the Two-Ton gang members hit, but not seriously, by Two-Face's bullets, Green Arrow spoke. "Thanks for helping out, guys." He shook Nightwing's black-gloved hand and then Batgirl's yellow-gloved hand. All four heroes were back on the ground now, with Black Canary massaging her rope-burned wrists.

"Glad we were in the neighborhood," Nightwing said.

"What brings you Justice League types to Gotham anyway?" Batgirl said after she finished looking at the bullet hole in her short, yellow on the inside, black on the outside cape.

"We're looking for a thief named Matches Malone. You guys don't know where he is, do you?" Green Arrow said.

Nightwing and Batgirl looked at each other.

"What?" Black Canary said.

"Maybe we should wait to discuss this until the cops come and take these guys away," Nightwing said, indicating Two-Face, the only one of his now tied-up crew who had regained consciousness.

"Don't bother!" Two-Face growled. "You two aren't the only one's that know Matches Malone is really The Batman!"

Black Canary and Green Arrow's jaws dropped. It was their turn to look at each other. Nightwing frowned and looked down and away from Green Arrow and Black Canary.

Batgirl shrugged her shoulders and smiled uncomfortably. "Or we could discuss it now."


	13. Only Human?

The Question found himself standing back in the main foyer of Dog River City hall. J'onn, along with several of Dog River's citizens, was lying on the floor of the building. A few, including J'onn, were slowly getting to their feet. Their groans of pain and discomfort filled the room, but at least they were alive. The Question, still in his faceless mask, blue overcoat and fedora after his encounter with the demon, reached out a brown-glove and helped the green-skinned Martian to his feet. J'onn looked up at him. "Question, what happened? The last thing I remember is all those horrible smiling faces and then it was as if my mind was lost in pure evil."

"You were possessed by a demon with plans to destroy the world. He's gone now.

"How did you-?"

"Long Story. I'll fill you in later. Do you have enough strength to quickly scan these people for serious injury?"

J'onn groaned. He felt like he had been turned inside out and back again. He did his best to stand up straight. "I believe so." He put his hand to his head and did a light psychic sweep of the town. J'onn's eyes went a little wide during the sweep

"What is it?" the Question said.

"Everyone is—fine, even the officers we battled earlier this evening are back in one piece. They are a little worse for wear from being possessed, but, otherwise, the supernatural evil is completely gone."

The Question chuckled. "A demon who keeps his word, go figure."

"What?" J'onn said.

"Never mind. I recommend contacting Dr. Fate and a few of the league's other magical members to do a little clean up down here, just in case," The Question said.

"Agreed," J'onn said. He put his fingers to the com-link in his ear. The Question walked away from J'onn, while the Martian communicated with the Justice League. He looked around at the people and some of them looked at him. His faceless mask made them raise an eyebrow, but they were not afraid of him. A few even nodded to him and smiled. This surprised The Question at first, but he concluded that somewhere inside them, they must have a sense of his role in saving them. He said a silent prayer of thanks that they were okay, even if they did live in a small town. He was about to rejoin J'onn when he saw an old man. It was Garibaldi. The man looked at The Question with eyes that said he was tired of masked men and women and just wanted to go home. The Question nodded and let the retired FBI agent lose himself in the people exiting the building. The Question already knew more now than Garibaldi could have told him anyway.

J'onn walked up behind The Question. "There is some kind of problem with the Javelins and transporters. All are off-line, far too many to be a coincidence. However, no one can explain it. Fate is busy teleporting leaguers where they need to be and he will send a team down here as soon as he can."

"Fine," The Question said. 'Now, follow me." J'onn hesitated. He really wanted to get back to the Metro-Tower and assist with getting the Javelins and transporters back on line, but he remembered why he had come here in the first place. He took a deep breath, and followed. The Question led him into one of the City Hall offices. "Close the door," The Question said. J'onn did so.

The Question turned and faced J'onn. "I was considering punching you in the face the second we got in here, but I probably would have just hurt my hand."

J'onn was silent, expressionless.

"You were the first to know, weren't you—that The Batman is Huntress' father?" The Question said.

"J'onn said nothing.

"Between my defeating the demon that possessed you and your recovery, I was shown two things. First, the Batman secretly tricking Garibaldi into taking a sample of his blood instead of a child the Batman was trying to save. Oh my, wouldn't the government have a fit if they knew they've had a sample of Batman's blood on file all this time? Then, I was shown you in the Metro-Tower med-wing promising the Batman not to breathe a word of what you had learned until he had contacted you again."

"I keep my promises," J'onn said.

"And I'm sure you sleep well at night knowing, while you have endangered all of reality as we know it by not being straight with me from the beginning, your honor is intact," The Question said.

J'onn did not reply, so The Question carried on. "But, unlike you I'm sure, I'm still at a loss. I don't know who Huntress' mother is. The demon gave me just enough information to point me in one direction, but not both. I'm sure he's laughing about it as we speak."

J'onn's eyes narrowed. "The Batman is working to resolve the situation. He'll do everything in his power to—

The Question cut him off. He put a finger in J'onn's face and raised his voice a little. "You know, when I confronted Superman about his possible future where he assassinated President Luthor, he took me into your private conference room. A room I had never been invited into until that moment. And you know what that revealed to me? It revealed to me that even in a place full of heroes who have to count on one another, sometimes for their very survival, there are still secrets. I shouldn't have been disappointed really. Exposing secrets is what I do. But you know what? I was. That's right. There was a part of me—of me!-that hoped, secret identities notwithstanding, the original seven members were being straight with us. So much for that, but I do know the one thing in my life that is absolutely true and that is how much I care for the Huntress, and so help me, none of you are going to stand in the way of me saving her." The Question put his face right in J'onn's. "So, are you going to tell me who Huntress's mother is or are you going let me walk out this door with the knowledge that everything you said to me about trust when you saved me from Brainstorm was a lie?"

J'onn's eyes narrowed. Now, it was his turn. "And what would you do with the knowledge if I gave it to you, Question? Tell me."

"Whatever it takes," he said.

J'onn's eyes narrowed. "And you think The Batman will do no less? Tell me this, Question. If it came down to a choice between you and the Batman to save the world who would you rather have doing it?"

The Question took a step back. Like it or not, J'onn had a point. Then, his eyes narrowed behind his mask. "And just what the hell am I supposed to do while he goes off with the entire world's future in his hands?"

"I'm sure the people we save everyday ask themselves the same question," J'onn said. However, they have the one thing in us that you need to have in The Batman."

"And what's that?" the Question barked.

J'onn looked at the Question again, "Faith."

"Wonderful words, J'onn, worthy of Superman himself, but there's one thing you're forgetting. Faith is for God, not The Batman. The Batman is human. He makes mistakes, gives into weakness, and can be broken just like everyone else in this less than perfect world. Even you who are not from this Earth are not above these weaknesses. And, if or when the Batman fails, somebody better be there to help him do what needs to be done or to pick-up where he leaves off or we're going to look mighty stupid when the entire timeline as we know it starts to collapse around us!" The Question left the office and slammed the door behind him.


	14. A Major Emergency

Nightwing, Batgirl, Black Canary, and Green Arrow waited until the Gotham police came and took Two-face and his gang away before moving to the roof top of the meat factory to talk. Black Canary, still in her streetwalker clothes spoke first. "So, I take it Matches Malone is an identity the Batman takes on so he can rub elbows a little more closely with the criminals he's looking to catch?"

"He used to," Nightwing said. "Two face actually figured it out when we met Batgirl for the first time."

"Don't remind me," Batgirl said. "Why were you guys looking for Matches Malone anyway?"

Green Arrow and Black Canary looked at each other. After a moment, Black Canary nodded. Green Arrow took a breath and told Nightwing and Batgirl the whole story: how Huntress, who was apparently somehow from the future, was fading out of existence and how they, The Question, J'onn and other members of the league were racing to find an answer to her condition before all of reality unraveled.

Batgirl's gasped. That means The Batman is Huntress' father."

"Looks that way," Green Arrow said.

"So, what now?" Nightwing said.

"We need to track Batman down and tell him what's going on," Green Arrow said. Green Arrow put two fingers to the Justice League com-link in his ear. 'Green Arrow to Batman."

Static.

Green arrow repeated himself.

Static.

"Okay, this is stupid. Green Arrow put his fingers to his communicator one more time. "Green Arrow to Metro Tower."

"This is Steel. Go ahead, Green Arrow."

Green Arrow imagined the armored man with the big sledgehammer manning the Metro-Tower's com-station. "Steel, I'm trying to reach Batman with my com-link, but I'm having trouble. Can you shed a little light on as to why?" Green Arrow said.

"Yes. Metro-Tower and Watchtower communications and transport media are suffering blackouts. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't. We've got all the League members with teleportation and telepathic powers working overtime, while the rest of us are trying to figure out why this is happening. So far, we're at a loss," Steel said.

"Can you locate The Batman for us?" Green Arrow said.

"Just a moment," Steel said. "No, I can't get a signal. To be honest, we're not sure where half the league is."

"It's a good thing a lot of us wear bright colors," Green Arrow said.

"You can say that again. Metro-Tower out."

"Well, that was a whole lot of nothing. The Watchtower and Metro-Tower both have transport and communication problems. If we want to get to The Batman, let alone find him we won't be able to rely on them, at least for now." Green Arrow said.

The heroes fell silent, each of them trying to think of a solution. After a moment, Nightwing spoke. "I have an idea. Excuse me for a moment. I'll be right back."

"Sure. Take your time. It's not often I get to be alone on a roof top at night with two beautiful women," Green Arrow said. He winked at the ladies.

"I'm sure," Nightwing said. Batgirl and Black Canary just gave each other wry smiles.

Nightwing stepped into the shadows in a corner of the meat-packing plant's large roof and activated his wrist communicator.

"Master Nightwing, is everything alright? How may I be of assistance?" It was the face and voice of Bruce Wayne's loyal butler and friend, Alfred Pennyworth. His dry British accent evident in every word he spoke.

"Alfred, are you at the manor?" Nightwing said.

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Alfred said into his own wrist communicator.

Nightwing chuckled. "I need you to check the cave and see if any of the vehicles are gone. We're trying to find Batman."

"Of course, Master Nightwing. Stand by," Alfred said.

Nightwing waited. As he did so, he glanced back at Batgirl. She was looking at the ground with her arms on her chest.

"Master Nightwing. Your hunch was correct. The Batwing is gone, and I found a flight plan logged in the computer. The destination is—

Suddenly an alarm went off in the background. Nightwing recognized it as the Batcave's intruder alarm—sister alarms in Nightwing and Batgirl's utility belts vibrated in sync with it. "Alfred, what's going on?" Nightwing watched his communicator display, but Alfred's face was no longer in it because the butler's wrist was no longer in front of his face.

Alfred's voice clearly conveyed his alarm at the situation. "Wait! Miss, how did you get in here? No, stop!" Then Nightwing heard something that sounded like a silenced gunshot followed by the thud of Alfred falling to the cave floor—a motion underlined by the changing camera angle of Alfred's wrist communicator as he fell. The last thing Nightwing saw was a hand in a purple-fingerless glove reach towards Alfred's communicator. Then, Nightwing's screen went static: the connection had been broken.

"Alfred, come-in. Alfred!" Nightwing spoke as loud as he dared for fear of someone in the night overhearing him call the butler's name." He hurried back to Batgirl, Green Arrow, and Black Canary.

"Nightwing, what's going on?" Batgirl said, her hand on her utility belt where the Batcave intruder alarm was still vibrating.

"We have to get to the cave, now!" Nightwing said.

Black Canary looked at Nightwing. "The cave?"


	15. A Quarrel Between Friends

The Question was standing outside Dog River city hall waiting for J'onn. Whatever he thought of J'onn right now for keeping the identity of Huntress'mother from him, flying with the Martian was still the fastest way to his next destination. He felt J'onn walk up behind him. "So, what have you decided?" The Question said.

John took a breath to relieve some of the tension he was feeling. "I've decided you were right-faith is for gods, not men. However, trust is very much for men. I gave The Batman my word. I will not break it. It is he, not you, who needs to make the final decision here. Besides, there is one thing that you have to consider: my information, regardless of how I got it, may be false. For all we know, our actions could be exacerbating Huntress' condition, not helping it. The chicken or the egg-such is the riddle of time.

The Question looked hard at the Martian. J'onn stared back at him. Finally, the Question exhaled. "Fine. I'll continue my investigation. But here's the deal: I will no longer push you for what you know under the condition you continue to assist me as you have thus far?"

"Of course," J'onn said.

Then The Question looked away from J'onn and started to speak what was in his head. "All right, considering the nature of what The Batman has to do with the mystery woman in question, he will want to face her alone. So, he's going to have to travel. No doubt, he took one of his vehicles, most likely the Batwing—it's the fastest. And, for a trip like this, where time itself is in the balance, he would most definitely log a flight plan in his personal computer so that those close to him could take over in case he failed." He looked at J'onn. "Take me to Gotham City."

X X X

It was not like The Batman had never flown before. After all, his very name suggested flight. He was a more than accomplished pilot. He was fearless of heights. And his cape, which he now wrapped around himself for warmth, resembled batwings. So, really, there should be no reason for discomfort in his current situation. However, if there was one thing the Batman hated, it was flying WITH someone who could fly under their own power. The experience made him feel like a helpless child. One time, when he and Superman were investigating a murder together, Superman had flown down from one floor of a partial constructed building to another while The Batman had used his grapple. "I could have flown us both down," Superman said to him. The Batman frowned and replied. "Between you and me, I hate that." And of course the fact the person he was flying with now was a teenager did not help matters.

The Batman and Starfire had yet to say a word to each other since they left the rest of the Teen Titans, Zatanna, B'wana Beast, and the former-mermaid they rescued on a long boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. That was an hour ago. The Batman, while he would have preferred maintaining the silence all the way to Kaznia, knew Starfire's powers depended on her feeling positive emotions, and he decided he had better break the ice with her soon before Starfire's stress—evident by her sometimes tense, sometimes trembling body-got the better of her and sent them both freefalling into the ocean. Unfortunately, the only thing he could think of to say and settle her was something he was not very good at saying. Oh well, swallowing a little pride was far preferable to him than falling out of the sky.

"I'm not used to relying on others to get where I'm going, thanks." The Batman immediately felt the tension in Starfire's body rise and then fall, but it was still there.

Starfire bit her lip and spoke with only a quick glance at The Batman. "I-I welcome you. I only wish I could fly faster and get you to your destination sooner."

"We get there when we get there," The Batman said.

Silence.

"We're losing altitude," The Batman said.

Starfire's eyes went wide and she flew upward suddenly then leveled off again. "I-I am sorry."

Silence.

"So, does Robin talk with you about us?" Starfire said. "I mean the Titans," Starfire quickly added. Her face was red.

"Cloud," The Batman said. Starfire looked ahead, went wide-eyed and flew upward just in time to avoid the white mass of condensed water particles in front of her.

When she leveled off again, Starfire glanced at the Batman hoping he would answer her question. He did not.

"Do you like me?" Starfire suddenly blurted out.

"What?" The Batman said. Now he was tense.

"Nothing!" Starfire suddenly said. "Nothing. Forget I said anything."

"Cloud!" the Batman said, but it was too late. The two of them came out the other side of the cloud soaking wet.

"Take us down," the Batman said.

"I'm sorry, I—"

"Italy is right below us. Take us down."

Starfire hung her head and flew she and the Batman to the Earth below.

X X X

"So, where exactly are we going?" Green Arrow said from his place in the backseat of the Nightbird-Nightwing's roomier answer to the Batmobile. There was a blindfold over the archer's eyes.

"The less you know, about it the better," Nightwing said. "No offense."

Batgirl sat back from the Nightbird's communication system controls, which she had been working with for the past ten minutes, and exhaled. "I can't raise the Batman on our communicators or with the Nightbird communication systems. I've tried every trick I know."

"This is so unfair," Black Canary said from beside Green Arrow.

"Maybe radio failure should be entered as an occupational hazard in the costumed-heroes' manual," Batgirl said.

Black Canary frowned, "That's not what I meant. I'm talking about having to wear a blindfold, while I change my clothes in a cramped space."

Nightwing, in the driver's seat, shook his head. "Look, the blindfolds are necessary. I can't show you the Batcave's location without Batman's permission. It just wouldn't be right."

"Yeah, I know," Black Canary said. "But still."

"Here, let me help," Green Arrow whispered in Black Canary's ear.

"How? You're blindfolded too," Black Canary whispered back, with a slight smile. His mustache tickled her ear when he whispered in it. She liked that.

"You'll find this is something I can do backwards in the dark just as well as I can do it forwards," Green Arrow whispered back.

Black Canary leaned against him, "Thanks for bringing my work clothes with you," she whispered.

Green Arrow returned Black Canary's Justice League com-link. He put it gently in her ear. "Anytime, pretty-bird, anytime."

Once she was dressed, Black Canary sat up and spoke again, "So what exactly are we up against?"

Nightwing frowned, "Someone has broken into Batman's headquarters and hurt,—his voice dropped—'maybe even killed, the caretaker that works there."

Batgirl squeezed her hands in her lap and prayed that Alfred was okay.

Knowing The Batman, security for his headquarters is probably pretty tight," Green Arrow said.

"Definitely," Nightwing said. That's what's make this situation even more serious. Now hold on." Nightwing activated a remote in the Nightbird and it transmitted his security code to the Batcave's computer. The computer recognized the code and lowered the metal drawbridge into the cave. Nightwing raced the Nightbird into the cave. He pressed another button and a second ramp that led away from the Batmobile parking space extended outward to a secondary parking space. Nightwing brought the Nightbird to a stop there. Green Arow and Black canary removed their blindfolds and then the four heroes got out of the car, ready for anything. When no immediate attack came, they looked around. Green Arrow and Black Canary were amazed. This underground cave was not just a headquarters full of top of the line computer equipment and vehicles, it was a museum to crime fighting.

"Is that a giant penny?" Black Canary whispered to Green Arrow.

"I'm still looking at the life size T-rex," Green Arrow whispered back.

"Shh," Nightwing said. He listened carefully for any sound of intruders.

Batgirl was the first to see someone on one of the Batcave's medical gurneys. Batgirl ran towards the gurney before Nightwing could stop her. It was Alfred. Someone had treated him and, while he was still unconscious, he looked like he was resting comfortably.

"Alfred, can you hear me?" Batgirl said.

"He'll be fine," said a voice.

Batgirl almost threw a Batarang at the voice's owner, but hesitated when she saw who it was.

"J'onn?" Green Arrow said. He was also startled and had taken aim, but now he lowered his bow.

J'onn walked up to Alfred's bedside. "I turned off the alarms, treated his wound, and gave him something for the pain. He'll be fine. He just needs his rest."

"What happened to him?" Batgirl said.

"He was shot with a mini-crossbow at medium range," said another voice. Then, The Question stepped out of the shadows.

Nightwing frowned, "Hmph, maybe Batman should exchange his security system for a welcome mat."

The Question put his hands in his overcoat's pockets. "The Martian was invited here during the Thanagarian invasion that's how we were able to come here now."

"Fine, who shot him then?" Nightwing said gesturing to Alfred. One minute I was calling him to find out where Batman was and the next minute he's on the floor."

"Look familiar?" The Question said. He tossed something to Nightwing. Nightwing caught it. Green Arrow watched the item fly through the air between the two men.

Green Arrow went wide-eyed behind his eye-mask and pointed at Nightwing's hand. "Hey, isn't that—

Nightwing looked at the object. His eyes narrowed. "It's the same kind of quarrel the Huntress uses in her mini-crossbows."

"She was here?" Green Arrow said.

"No, J'onn said. But, whoever was is trying to make us think she was and that is a mistake."

"How's so?" Black Canary said.

J'onn continued, "After the Atom and I stabilized the Huntress' condition with the Tachyon Field generator, I created a psychic link with her so I could keep my mind's eye on her rate of temporal degradation and help relieve some of the pain it is causing her. Simply put, I know for a fact the Huntress has not left the Metro-Tower. However, that's all I can be sure of at the moment."

"No, it's not possible. It's too strange," The Question said suddenly to no one in particular.

"What?" Batgirl said. Everyone looked at The Question.

"Take a bigger step back from what were talking about here, what were doing standing in this room. We're dealing with time, right, and the metaphysical concept that everything happens for a reason, in this case Huntress' existence. The Question pointed at Alfred and looked at Nightwing. "Just before he was shot, he was about to tell you Batman was headed, wasn't he?"

"That's right. How did you know?" Nightwing said.

The Question looked at everyone, "A hunch. Look, I know this sounds surreal, but doesn't that seem just a little too well timed?"

There was silence as everyone processed the idea.

"Wait, are you saying- began Green Arrow.

J'onn held up his hand. "Let him finish." Everyone fell silent.

Batgirl and Black Canary looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

The Question continued, "Yes. Yes, I see it now. The Martian and I are here to get the exact same information that you are. What are the odds of that? And since we've got here, have we gotten that information? No, all we've done is—

"other things," finished Nightwing who was also coming to the same conclusion The Question was. Nightwing shook his head in disbelief, "So it's possible this—he held up the quarrel in his hand—'even this conversation were having now is serving to—

"Delay us," the Question finished.

"Now, guys, come on! Question, this is a little too Twilight Zone, even for you." Green Arrow said.

"Look!" Nightwing said. All the heroes watched at the crossbow quarrel started to sparkle and then turned into stardust in Nightwing's hand. Finally, it vanished completely.

"Magic," said Batgirl and Black Canary simultaneously.

The Question nodded. "Cancelled by our disbelief of the situation." He looked at Green Arrow. 'Well some of us anyway."

Green Arrow frowned and crossed his arms on his chest, "Don't let it go to your head, smart-guy."

"I'll bring up the flight plan," Batgirl said. She hurried to the Batcave's main computer.

"And I'll see about getting us some six-seat air-transportation," Nightwing said. He started to move.

Black Canary put two fingers to the side of her head, "Wait, Nightwing. Question, J'onn, Arrow, are you getting this?"

Green Arrow smiled, "Am I ever. It's a globe-wide announcement. The Watchtower and Metro-Tower are reporting that all their communications and transportation systems are back on line."

"And the truth will set them free," The Question mumbled.


	16. Into the Whirlpool

Of all the countries in the world, few were as distasteful as Kaznia. A source of and home for terrorists and a place of constant civil war, Kaznia was easily one of the low countries on the global totem pole. However now, to the pleasure of some and the surprise of others, the country was now beginning to find its way, and it was all thanks to a very special woman.

After the death of her father and the annulment of her marriage to the evil immortal Vandal Savage, the former Princess Audrey was forced to become queen and take the reins of leadership. The day she took the throne, she addressed her people, such as they were, and swore on her father's grave she would bring peace and prosperity to war-torn Kaznia. The world's governments were skeptical, of course. Kaznia had not seen peace in nearly a century and Audrey, a world class party girl, was not known for her ability to take responsibility. However, Audrey had worked hard over the last few years and was now on the verge of proving the world governments wrong.

In two days, there would be a peace conference where General Nordoc and General Olanic, two men who had been at each others throats for years would sign a treaty handing over their power to Queen Audrey. The two men would stay on her council as advisors, but Kaznia would finally be united under its royal family once more. This was such a delicate time for her people, and one Queen Audrey had to make sure happened safely. To that end, she reached out to the Justice League and through them to her friend Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman quickly assembled a team of heroes to join her in supporting, protecting, and attending the upcoming Kaznian peace conference.

Queen Audrey sat at a round table she ordered set up in her study. Around it with her, sat Wonder Woman along with five other members of the Justice League: The bird-winged Shayera Hol (formerly known as Hawkgirl), the chocolate-skinned Vixen, The green-haired Fire, and brothers Hawk and Dove. Over the past two weeks, the heroes had been doing everything they could to keep Kaznia's new and still somewhat fragile peace from falling apart.

"Have all the terrorists been arrested?" Queen Audrey said.

Hawk, in his white costume, with a red-streamer cape stood up. He stretched his broad shoulders as he breathed. The action made him look more like the predator he was named after. "They have. A few of them gave us some trouble, and we had to kick their—

Dove, sitting beside his brother in his white, blue and avian-painted bodysuit, stood and cleared his throat, effectively cutting his brother off in mid-sentence. What my brother means is we saw too it they surrendered peacefully. We managed to find their weapons cache too. That's twenty-five bombs that aren't going to be exploding anytime soon."

"Not to mention twenty-five suicide bombers that are going to have to rethink their career choice," Hawk added.

"We've also contacted international counseling services," Dove said. "They will work with the men to bring them back to themselves." Both men sat down again.

Queen Audrey nodded, "I thank you for your efforts, gentlemen. Now, how goes the catering for the post-signing party?" Queen Audrey asked, while running a hand through her blonde hair to relieve some of the stress she felt.

This time Vixen stood looking sleek in her tight brown-gold body suit. She smiled, "Really well. I've got a couple of the catering and decorating services that did some work for a few of the fashion show after-parties I've attended to team up on this. Their excellent and, together with the royal chefs, have been working around the clock supervising the food preparations and decorating. All have reported that everything will be ready on time. They also wanted to compliment you on your inclusion of some of the great chefs from among your people. They have taught everyone a thing or two."

"Wonderful, thank-you, Vixen. The treaty signing preparations?" Audrey said.

Fire spoke, the smile on her Brazilian face seemed strengthened by her bright green hair. "All is ready, Queen Audrey. The treaty will be signed on a table half-made by a carpenter from the north of your country and half made by a carpenter in the south. The two haves were put together by your royal carpenter and it has been placed in the great hall. As you requested, a dove's feather will serve as the quill for the signing. Also, I saw to it all our guests from the politicians and eporters to our visitors from the entertainment world are comfortable as they await the beginning of the festivities the day after tomorrow. Oh, by the way, a Mr. Christian Bale and a Mr. Kevin Conroy send their compliments."

"Audrey laughed, "Such charming men, those two are. What about the media?"

"Lois Lane has arrived from The Daily Planet. She is ready for the one on one interview you have offered whenever you wish. All the rest of the media is comfortable in their hotel rooms and await the press conference tomorrow morning," Fire said.

"Excellent, I am so looking forward to meeting Ms. Lane. I hear she's almost as tough as I am. Thank-you, Fire. Wonder Woman, have you finished going over the treaty language?"

Wonder Woman stood, "Yes, your majesty. The revisions I suggested have been made and both General Nordoc and General Olanic approve. There isn't a word out of place and no fine-print surprises for anyone," Wonder Woman said.

"And finally, security?" Audrey said.

This time, Shayera spoke. As Queen Audrey listened, the Queen did her best to conceal the amusement she felt at speaking to a woman with real wings. "Besides your guard, the Canadian Peacekeepers will be keeping an eye on the palace and all major parties involved. Some of them, Hawk, Fire, and I will patrol the area outside the palace during the event, while Diana, Vixen, Dove and the rest of them provide protection inside. Meanwhile, I've been triple-checking everything. Additional security will be provided by the Justice League in the form of two more hero teams on the day of the signing. They would have been here sooner, but the communications and transportation problems the League were experiencing slowed them down. Now that things are up and running again, everything should work out.

Audrey smiled at the winged-woman and then looked at Wonder Woman, "I'm surprised the League didn't call you and Shayera away from here with the problems you say they have been having, you two being part of the original seven members."

"This treaty is far too important to leave unattended, Queen Audrey," Wonder Woman said. "No offense, your majesty, but your country has been a haven for terrorists of all types, meta-human and human alike. This treaty will help put an end to that and create stability that has been unheard of in this part of the world for years."

Queen Audrey smiled, "No offense taken. I thank you." She sat back in her chair. 'Well, ladies and gentlemen, I do believe that's everything. This is going to be quite an event, but then, the world should expect no less from a world class party girl like me." Everyone smiled.

Audrey sat forward. "Is there any more business? No? Very well then, I think the time has come for a well-deserved break." Audrey noticed Hawk and Dove looking impatient. 'Is there something on your minds, gentlemen?" Queen Audrey asked.

"Oh, sorry, your majesty. Well, it's just that— Dove began.

"If it's alright with you, your majesty, Dove and I would like to take in some of the local color tonight," Hawk said.

"Of course, gentlemen. You may take your leave now if you wish," Queen Audrey said.

Hawk, using his extraordinary speed, was already out the door, with his brother in unexpected tow. "Thank-you, your majesty!" Dove shouted.

"They are handsome boys, aren't they?" Audrey said.

"Boys, is right," Shayera said, with a smirk. The rest of ladies all smiled.

"Well, I suppose the rest of us should get some sleep we do have a couple of big days ahead of us tomorrow." Wonder Woman offered.

Queen Audrey spoke up before the rest of the ladies present could roll their eyes, "Diana, have you forgotten everything I taught you about fun already?"

Wonder Woman blushed, "What, no, it's just, I thought, well, we were busy today and—

"Ladies, follow me and let me show you how to relax," Queen Audrey spun on her heel and started walking. The other ladies in the room all looked at one another, save Wonder Woman who was still looking a bit sheepish. 'That was a royal command, ladies," Queen Audrey said from the hallway to the study. The ladies smiled and quickly followed.

Queen Audrey led the ladies through the halls of the new Kaznian Royal House, completed, for the most part, six months ago. Some of the rooms were still undergoing finishing touches, but all of them would be open to the press tomorrow. The ladies finally came to a door. Audrey opened it with a key from her pocket and held the door open for the four ladies. They entered. When they got inside, their eyes went wide with awe.

"I was going to show off this place later, but Hawk and Dove having an evening out on their own has afforded us a luxury," Queen Audrey said.

"This place is stunning, your majesty," Vixen said.

"Vixen, darling, I've had enough of titles for one day. Please call me Audrey. She looked at Fire, Shayera, and Wonder Woman, 'That goes for you three as well. As long as were in here, were just five women, got it?"

"Got it," the other women said in unison and smiled. They followed Audrey deeper into the wonderful room.

"I did my best to have my people recreate the baths on Themyscira, albeit a much smaller version." She put a hand on Diana's shoulder. I was so taken with them when I visited your island last year. This place is accurate right down to the gold plated spouts." The ladies looked at Audrey, amazed. She smirked, 'Well, okay, I've added some whirlpool technology, but who says you can't have the best of both worlds? I call this place the Diana room."

Wonder Woman blushed. "Audrey, I'm flattered."

"Oh please, Diana, compared to what you've done to help me with Kaznia, naming this room after you is the least I could do."

After a short tour around the baths, which revealed a host of beautiful statues pouring water, columns, and other elements of an ancient Greek motif, Audrey led the ladies to five dressing screens. Now, get undressed, grab your towels, and let's have some girl talk in the comfort of the Diana room's main whirlpool. The other ladies smiled, nodded and headed for the dressing screens.

"This is going to be great," Fire said.

X X X

Carlie pushed her brown hair out of her eyes and looked around at the heroic crew she shared the longboat with as it whisked its way across the face of the ocean. Still aboard was Jason Blood-he had dismissed Etrigan in favor of his human form, Zatanna, B'wana Beast, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and a sleeping Robin. Carlie smiled. She would still be half woman, half fish if not for them all, especially B'wana Beast and his unique powers. Now, still wrapped in Raven's hooded cloak, she sat next to B'wana Beast in the long boat, a man whose clothes and helmet made him look like a cross between Tarzan and a Power-Ranger, heavy on the Tarzan.

"Thanks again for saving me," Carlie said.

"No problem," B'wana Beast said, fighting not to look at her anywhere else but her eyes. 'Why did Klarion turn you into a mermaid anyway?" he said to avoid an awkward silence he felt coming.

Carlie looked at the floor of the boat. "Well, it's a story that started out normal enough. I was at an old book store looking for some first printings of classic books to take back to the antique store my father and I run in Star City. Anyway, I saw Klarion and he saw me. I smiled politely at him and then, a few minutes later, he approached me and asked me if I would like to have a cup of tea with him. I could tell it was his first time asking a girl out. He was all nervous looking and sweating a bit. He looked so cute. I was about to say yes—what was the harm in a cup of tea? Then, I looked in his eyes and something gave me a chill. So, I turned him down politely instead, saying I had to get back to work. He looked hurt, but then his face turned angry. That's when everything went dark. Now I'm here. My father must be so worried. I don't know how long I've been under Klarion's control."

"Don't worry, we'll get you back to your father as soon as we can."

"Will you stay with me, on the way to back to my father, I mean?" Carlie asked with a nervous smile. She broke eye contact with B'wana Beast and looked down at her lap instead, while she blushed.

"Ah, sure, I could probably make that happen," B'wana Beast said, also blushing.

"Thanks," Carlie said. She was smiling.

The two sat quietly for a moment at the mercy of the heat in their cheeks.

"So, um that's an interesting helmet. How did you get it?" Carlie asked.

B'wana Beast smiled. "I found it, actually. I used to be a ranger stationed near Mt. Kilimanjaro and, one night, I heard this voice in my mind. It led me to this hidden cave where the helmet was. The voice told me to wear the helmet and use it to serve the higher purposes of truth and justice. I've done so ever since." He let out a small laugh, 'Sounds kind of corny doesn't it?"

"No. It sounds very corny, but I'm sure glad it happened," Carlie said. She put her hand on B'wana Beast's.

Bwana's Beast felt a surge of warm tingles run through him from where Carlie's hand touched his. He cleared his throat, "Um, yeah, I am too."

"So your helmet is one of a kind?" Carlie said.

"No, that is, I've heard stories of another one like it, but while mine allows me to combine and separate things that are at least one part animal, that helmet combines—

Suddenly, the boat jerked hard to the right to the surprise of all aboard.

"What the heck?" Cyborg said.

"It's a whirlpool!" Raven said.

"A big whirlpool!" Beast Boy said. His eyes went wide as the swirling danger that held them grew larger and larger at an incredible rate.

"Hang-on, everyone!" Zatanna said. Zatanna, Raven, and Jason all tried spells, but to no effect. Each sensed that something was blocking their powers. Even Beast Boy, whose powers were not magical based, could not transform.

Raven tried to fly. She could not. "We can't stop it. We're going in!" Raven said.

Every member of the longboat's crew cried out, save Robin who was still fast asleep. The whirlpool took them down, down, down into its cold wet core.

Somewhere, Klarion watched as the boat descended into the depths. He smiled.

Somewhere, someone else watched Klarion. They smiled too.


	17. Men Complicate Things

"This isn't a bath towel. This is a washcloth," Shayera said from behind her dressing screen.

"Come on, Shayera, the bubbles hide everything once your in the tub," Vixen said.

"Well, just about everything," Fire said looking down at her own naked body in the water.

"Not helping," Vixen said.

"I know," Fire giggled.

"On Themyscira, we are taught to be proud and confident of our bodies. They are our first and best weapons," Wonder Woman said.

"Did that help?" Fire whispered to Vixen. It was Vixen's turn to giggle.

"I could have my servants bring you something larger, Shayera," Audrey offered from her place in the tub.

Shayera sighed, "No, that's alright, if the rest of you can do it, so can I," and she came out from behind her dressing screen. The instant she did she looked to see which of the other ladies were looking directly at her. All of them were. She quickened her pace towards the tub and got in its warm frothy water, splashing everyone in her haste.

"Hey," said Vixen and Fire, who took the brunt of the splash.

"That wasn't so bad," Shayera said. The other ladies giggled, save Wonder Woman who only smiled. Shayera looked at Audrey, "I hope you don't mind a few feathers in your whirlpool."

"Not at all, darling. Not at all," Audrey said with a laugh that ended in a smile. Shayera smiled sheepishly back. Then everyone took a deep breath and did their best to relax.

"This is so nice," Fire said as she slid a little lower into the water. "It reminds me of the Japanese Onsen Flash and I went to a couple of months back."

"And the girl talk begins. How is Flash as a date?" Shayera said.

"Enthusiastic," Fire said immediately. 'And, despite what people think, he knows when to take it slow," Fire said with a wink.

Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow, while other women laughed.

Audrey smiled, "Justice League romances, they're all over the tabloids you know." She looked at Shayera. 'You and the Green Lantern John Stuart are together again, no?" Shayera looked at Vixen and vice versa. Fire and Wonder Woman lost their smiles and looked at each other. 'I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was a sensitive topic," Audrey said.

Vixen put her hands up, "Relax everyone, John is back where he belongs." She looked right at Shayera. 'I mean that. I'm just glad I got to see things through."

Shayera smiled, "Thanks."

"I'm seeing Mr. Terrific now," Vixen said.

"Is he?" Fire asked. Vixen splashed her, 'Hey," Fire said through a laugh.

"Men are not so complicated, but they sure can complicate things," Shayera said.

Audrey shook her head, "This is true. They have their issues. Look at my former husband. Talk about the ultimate baggage. You think I would know a power hungry madman when I see one considering my country's past. How about you, Diana? Has your life been complicated yet?"

Wonder Woman blushed a little, "I, well, that is-.

"Last I heard there were bats in your belfry," Vixen said.

"Mauri!" Shayera said. Fire smiled.

"I'm just saying," Vixen said.

"Well, Diana?" Audrey pressed.

Wonder Woman's eyes narrowed. "Not anymore." Then Wonder Woman's expression softened as did her voice. "Sorry, that came out harsher than I intended." She looked down at the water. It's just that this is not something I'm used to: fretting over a man. An Amazon upbringing doesn't exactly prepare you for it."

Audrey put a hand on Wonder Woman's shoulder. "That's all right, Diana. You don't have to talk about it. However, it should be noted that us mortal women find the best time to talk about these situations is with other women close to us who have also fretted over men."

"Amen to that," Fire and Vixen said simultaneously.

"Nothing like a good vent session," Shayera said.

"I'll think about it," Diana said, with a sheepish smile.

"Who's up for a swim?" Audrey said.

"Me," said Fire.

"Me," said Vixen

"I'm staying in here," Shayera said.

"Me too," Wonder Woman said.

"Suit yourselves. Come on, ladies." Audrey got out of the whirlpool followed by Vixen and Fire. They took the short distance to the room's pool in a couple of strides and dove into the cool waters. There were a few playful yelps at the sudden change of temperature on their bare skin.

"I wish I had a body as good as they have," Shayera said watching Fire, Vixen, and Audrey play in the pool.

"You do," Wonder Woman said flatly.

Shayera looked at Wonder Woman with a raised eyebrow then she dropped it. "Thanks," Shayera said.

"Anytime," Wonder Woman said.

Silence.

"He ended it," Wonder Woman said. Shayera looked at her with a questioning look, but then immediately understood who the amazon was talking about when they made eye contact. Shayera settled into the water and listened. "We were all set to go out on our third date. I had to twist his arm—Shayera raised an eyebrow—'not literally. Then, the next day, he called me into the Metro-Tower conference room. He told me we were done and he apologized to me for letting it get this far. He said he didn't want to be close to anyone-to have a lover. He said he wasn't any good at it and that if he ever was he lost the ability the night his parents were murdered." Wonder Woman's voice rose in volume a bit. 'He went on to say a relationship with him only allows for the possibility that one night, he'll find me killed by one of his enemies or some other way around. He said he cannot allow that nightmare to become a reality, no matter what I think."

"And you said," Shayera said.

"I countered. I said he should know by now I can handle myself against all kinds of danger and that he should respect me enough to make my own life decisions. Sure, there was always the possibility of death, there was also the possibility, in the end, we may find were not right for each other. These chances are a natural part of the lives we lead, but that was not reason enough for us not exploring our feelings further and seeing where they take us. That's when things started to get ugly."

"How so?" Shayera said.

Wonder Woman frowned, "He said he didn't care about me the way I cared about him. He said I was simply mistaking his dedication to do everything he could to save his fellow man for affection towards me. He said, now that I've finally overcome the Amazonian brainwashing—oooh, I can't believe he said that—and I finally wanted to try having a man in my life, I was being blinded by my inexperience, and I had foolishly focused my attentions on him, a man totally wrong for me. He also said he wasn't so big on the idea of having a woman in his life that stayed young, while he got old. I got so angry. I called him a coward and kicked his conference chair across the room, shattering it. Then I stormed out."

"Wow," Shayera said.

"He was lucky I kicked the chair and not him," Wonder Woman said. "Gods, I don't know, maybe he's right. My mother fell for the darkest of the gods and look where it got her—she swore off men all together and created an entire culture based on that decision. Hera, help me. Maybe I should try my luck with Superman, we have more in common-on the surface anyway.

"He's taken," Shayera said.

"Yeah, I know. I didn't really mean it anyway. Maybe my problem is I do just want a man to make love to me so I know what it's like and then I'll drop him like a stone and-Wonder Woman stopped in mid-sentence. She looked at Shayera who was smiling. 'What?"

Shayera covered her mouth and cleared her throat. "Sorry, it's just I've never heard you talk like this before,"

"Like what?" Wonder Woman said. Wonder Woman reviewed the last part of her rant in her head and found herself suddenly embarrassed, almost shocked. She looked at the pool and saw that the other three ladies had stopped their swimming and were looking at her with concern. That's when Wonder Woman realized that, while in the final thralls of her rant, she had been speaking loud enough for all the ladies to hear. Her eyes narrowed. 'Excuse me, I'm going back to my room." With that, Wonder Woman got out of the tub and marched out of the Diana Room. She did not bother to reclaim her clothes nor her washcloth.

"Diana, you don't have to leave," Audrey said.

"I want to be alone," Wonder Woman said walking away without a towel.

"Um, Diana- Fire started to say.

"Too late," Vixen said.

X X X

The Question hurried down off the Metro-Tower's transporter pad and into the tower's elevator and then its hallways. He headed straight for the med-wing room in which Huntress slept. He had decided to come here, while J'onn, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Batgirl, and Black Canary awaited the Javelin being sent via autopilot to Gotham city. J'onn had ordered the Question be given priority clearance and told The Question he would call him when the Javelin arrived so they could all go together. The Question agreed and then disappeared from the Batcave in a flash of light.

After relieving Shining Knight who had been assigned to sit with Huntress, he moved to her bedside and said her name.

"Is that you, baby doll?" Huntress said weakly as she awoke.

"Yes," The Question said. It took all his self-control, not to show his sadness at how much more Helena had faded since last he saw her.

"I'm so sorry about this, Q," Huntress said.

"This isn't your fault," the Question said.

"Every woman has her baggage, but this? This takes relationship difficulties out a whole new door," Huntress said.

"We'll get through this, Helena. I promise you that. Just hang on a little longer," The Question said.

"Q, If I survive this, let's get married."

"What?" The Question said.

"Q, if we get out of this, I want us married. I want to make sure you'll never be anyone else's but mine."

"Helena, I—he looked at her eyes. 'Yes, Helena, we will, as soon as this is over." The Huntress visibly relaxed despite the pain she felt. 'But we're both nut-jobs, imagine what our kids will be like."

"Just as long as they have ten fingers, ten toes—"

"And faces," The Question said.

Huntress chuckled. "And faces."

The Question suddenly looked up.

"What?" Huntress said.

The Question looked back over his shoulder. The computer he had been working on in this room when he discovered the location of Matches Malone's blood sample was still here. He sat down at it and started typing furiously.

"Q, what are you— Huntress started.

"Shhh, trying to concentrate," he said. He accessed the Metro-Tower med-wing computers. He reached into his overcoat pocket and removed a data recovery program disk from it. He placed it in the computer. In minutes, The Question's computer skills found him all the data that had been 'erased' in the last few days. He stopped typing and closed his eyes. He recalled the visions the demon had showed him. The conversation he observed between J'onn and the Batman. He concentrated not on the words, but on the room, specifically the wall calendar in the room. A moment later, he opened his eyes and immediately started typing again. He found J'onn's sorting program and went straight for the deleted data that matched the day of the conversation. In moments, he found exactly what he was looking for. His eyes went wide with both surprise and satisfaction. He knew who both the Huntress' parents were. He turned to face the Huntress, "Helena, I—

The Question was cut off, but not by the Huntress's words. She had fallen back to sleep. No, the Question was interrupted by someone else's presence in the room. It was a teenager in a black tuxedo. His face was narrow and his haircut made him look like he had little horns on his black-haired head. He stood over Huntress and was looking down at her. "Beautiful woman you have here, one of the most beautiful in the Justice league, I'd say. I love how her costume shows off her thighs."

The Question was speechless.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, too bad about the temporal instability, though. Guess I'll have to do something about that. Before The Question could react, the teenager put his hand over the Huntress and energy flowed out of it. In an instant she was whole once more. She started to squirm, waking up.

"How did you-?" The Question began, and the teenager promptly hit him with a green energy blast from his hand. The blast knocked The Question across the room into a wall. He bounced off it with a grunt and fell to the ground unconscious.

The Huntress opened her eyes hoping to see The Question. She saw the teenager instead. She went wide-eyed. But before she could speak, he moved his fingers in a short line from left to right and her lips literally zipped shut. She found she could not get up either, only squirm.

The teenager put a finger to her lips. "Hello, Huntress, I'm Klarion, and you make two," and then he snapped the fingers on his other hand and the two of them disappeared from the med-wing room.


	18. A Canary in the Hand

Under autopilot, a Javelin spacecraft surfaced in the Batcave next to one of two docks usually reserved for the Batboat. Green Arrow, standing on a cliff high above the docks, removed a remote control from a pocket on his belt. He aimed the device at the Javelin and pressed a button on it. The Javelin's cockpit access opened revealing seven seats ready to be filled with passengers. He looked back over his shoulder at J'onn. "Our ride to Kaznia is here. Now we just need Question."

J'onn brought his hand down from the com-link in his ear. "He's not responding."

Nightwing, Black Canary and Batgirl all looked at each other. "A fine time for him to decide to go it alone," Green Arrow said as he walked back towards the group of heroes.

A voice echoed through the Batcave. "Yes, especially since life is so much better with company."

"Who- began Black Canary, but her words were cut off by the sensation of an invisible hand closing completely around her. She was lifted upward and away from the heroes. Her struggles against the unseen hand were less than useless. She could not even open her mouth to speak.

"Canary!" Green Arrow said. He aimed his bow and arrow in Black Canary's direction to shoot whatever was carrying her off, but he saw nothing to hit.

Nightwing and Batgirl simultaneously threw lines at Black Canary. They hoped to wrap the lines around the blonde hero and pull her back to the ground, but the batarangs at the end of their lines hit the invisible hand around Black Canary and fell uselessly to the ground. J'onn took flight and quickly closed on Black Canary's position. When he reached for her, another unseen hand slapped him back down. The other heroes scattered to avoid being hit by the Martian as he slammed into the Batcave floor.

Black Canary stopped her ascent high above the cave floor and a teenage boy in a tuxedo materialized next to her. The instant he did, Green Arrow shifted his focus and let his arrow fly. The teenage boy caught it, but not before he slowed it and turned the arrow into a pink Popsicle, which he began to eat. He took the ice-treat out of his mouth and smiled devilishly at Green Arrow. "Mmmm, there's nothing better than strawberry."

"Eat these," Green Arrow said as he pulled three impact arrows out of his quiver to fire all at once, but the arrows turned into strawberry goo in his hands and dripped slowly down onto the ground. Green Arrow cursed.

"Who is that guy?" Nightwing said.

"Klarion, I think," Batgirl said as she and Nightwing helped J'onn to his feet. 'Batman and Robin ran up against him a few years back. I read the case file in the cave's computer. His powers are magical," Batgirl added.

"No kidding," Green Arrow said still shaking the goo off his hands.

"What do you want with Black Canary?" J'onn said to Klarion, the aggravation in the Martian's voice audible. The Martian tried simultaneously to reach into the witch-boy's mind, but found only the psychic equivalent of static.

"You'll all see soon enough. For now, I'll leave you something to play with." Klarion and Black Canary started to fade away. Klarion stroked Black Canary's cheek with his hand as they did so. She grunted at him loudly, unable to do anything else. "Come with me, my virtuous lady. You are number three."

"No!" Green Arrow said and he quickly fired another impact arrow at Klarion. It passed right through the youth like it would have a ghost and hit—something else. There was a cry like rusty door hinges—angry rusty door hinges. Klarion and Black Canary vanished completely. Only the brief echo of the teen's laughter remained.

"Canary!" Green Arrow shouted.

"Look!" Nightwing said. He pointed to the cave ceiling.

All the heroes looked up into the darkness above. They saw a pair of red eyes. Then, they saw another pair, then another, then another, then hundreds more.

One pair of red eyes came out of the darkness into the range of the cave lights. Their owner was an animal-mockery of the hero that called this cave home. Dark hair was all over its body and it had horrible looking fangs and claws. Its leathery wings flapped keeping it aloft. Then another of the creatures came into the light near the first, then another and another. They gathered, preparing to swoop down to the attack.

"What are they?" Batgirl said, with a slight tremble in her voice.

"They're the cave's bats. He's changed them into monsters," Nightwing said. He looked again at the incredible amount of red eyes filling the cave ceiling. "All of them."

X X X

Alfred opened his eyes and, for a moment, entertained the possibility that he was in hell. After all, the place he was in was dark. There were horrible looking bat-demons flying everywhere, And the last thing he remembered being was being shot before waking up here. It was then, he saw one of the demons coming right for him. Fright seized him and he could only wait wide-eyed for the creature's horrible fangs to sink into his soul.

It did not happen.

Just before the monster reached him, Alfred saw a flash of green and blue and heard a sound like a sledgehammer hitting flesh. J'onn had flown into the monster's flight-path and knocked the unnatural beast away with his fist. J'onn's blue cape was torn, nearly to shreds, and there were scratches in the Martian's green flesh. Alfred flinched as J'onn knocked yet another monster across the cave, this time into another two of his kind. The three creatures slammed into the cave wall and rolled down it in a mass of hairy flesh and broken bones.

J'onn frowned, he had been forced to rely on his fists as the same psychic static he discovered when he tried to mentally attack Klarion resided in the bat-creatures' minds as well. He also frowned at the fact the creatures were actually hurting him, another ability Klarion's magic must of given them. Normally, J'onn could have healed the scratches on his body and repaired his self-generated costume, with but a thought, but something in the magic would not let him. He was in as much a fight for his life as the other heroes around him.

Alfred looked past J'onn deeper into the battle before him. He saw Nightwing and Batgirl standing almost back to back, their outfits just as torn up as J'onn's cape. Blood was visible on the scratches on their bodies. They were next to three of the Batcave's many weapon lockers. Batgirl was throwing everything she could get her hands on from them into the storm of monsters around them: stun batarangs, sonic batarangs, magnesium pellets, explosive batarangs, chryo-batarangs, regular batarangs, bolos, smoke pellets. Alfred had heard Batman talk about Batgirl's now exceptional ability with thrown weapons, but this was the first time he had really seen it in action. He could not help but be amazed when he saw her throw five batarangs at once, each weapon finding a monster and bringing them down. The sonic batarangs were doing the most damage to the bat-creatures, their sensitivity to sound still intact after Klarion's transformation, but they only lasted so long as the bat-creatures threw themselves at the spots where the weapons hit, even if those spots were others in their colony. They crashed into the spot, one after another, until the painful sound emanating from the batarang stopped, the device crushed under their weight. It was a horrible strategy the creatures' numbers easily afforded.

Nightwing, meanwhile, had gotten his hands on the freeze gun Batman had confiscated in one of his battles with Mr. Freeze and kept in the cave in a glass display case. A blue burst of chryo-energy shot forth from the guns fat barrel every time Nightwing pulled the trigger, which encased whatever part of the bat-monsters it hit in cold heavy ice and sent the monsters crashing to the cave floor.

Then, Alfred spotted Green Arrow. Scratched up just as bad as the other heroes, he had long ago fired his last arrow. Alfred watched as the emerald archer raced towards the Batmobile, with something black in his right hand, his bow in his left, and bat-monsters right behind him.

"Batgirl!" Green Arrow shouted. Batgirl, in between volleys of bat-weapons, glanced at Green Arrow, saw where he was going, and hit a button on the side of her utility belt. The canopy to the Batmobile slid open and Green Arrow dove inside the pitch-black car. The bat-creatures chasing the emerald archer, afraid of being trapped inside the strange machine, veered away. The canopy slid shut.

Alfred was surprised to see Green Arrow seek cover from the battle. Perhaps, Alfred thought, the man's skills were limited to archery. Without arrows to shoot, Green Arrow simply became nothing more than a target for the bat-monsters. Alfred quickly realized how wrong he was when a great roar, louder than anything the bat-monsters could have produced, filled the Batcave. The bat-monsters scattered like flies in terror as the Batcave's actual-size robotic Tyrannosaurus-Rex started moving. It stomped on a pair of bat-creatures on the ground. It pulled three more out of the air with its terrible jaws and crunched down on them causing black blood to spurt out from between its teeth. Alfred now knew what the black object in Green Arrow's right hand had been-the remote control for the gigantic monster. Inside the Batmobile, Green Arrow smiled at his own cleverness as he sent the monster-machine rampaging through the cave hell bent on bat-creature destruction.

Despite his current situation, a small smile formed on Alfred's face at Green Arrow's action—at least until he looked up at the Batcave's ceiling. There were so many pairs of red eyes—more monsters waiting to take the place of their fallen brothers and sisters. Alfred knew in his heart the team of heroes, even with their brilliant ideas, amazing weapons, and superpowers would soon fall to the horde of creatures above them—a belief that moved ever closer to fact when he saw Nightwing and Batgirl suddenly overwhelmed by a bunch of the creatures. The impact from the mass of bat-monsters knocked the freeze gun from Nightwing's hand.

Not sure whether his surrogate grandchildren had just been torn to pieces, the fear in Alfred's blood forced an idea to the forefront of his mind. He took the I.V. out of his arm and got off the gurney. He ran as fast as his old bare feet could carry him toward the cave's main computer. "Mr. Pennyworth, what are you doing?" J'onn demanded, looking over his shoulder at the butler, but then turning back around to smash yet another bat-monster with his fist.

"Read my mind!" Alfred shouted as he moved towards the Batcave's main computer. A pair of bat-creatures came down and tried to nab Alfred in one swoop, but J'onn was faster. The Martian grabbed the gurney with one hand and flung it at the monsters with all his super-strength. It knocked them away. Meanwhile, J'onn instantly read the butler's surface thoughts. Understanding, he immediately made telepathic contact with all the other heroes providing them with Alfred's plan. Half a second later, Alfred pressed a button on the computer console.

Suddenly, a loud hiss filled the Batcave. A potent green knock-out gas blasted out of strategically placed vents all over The Batman's lair. The bat-creatures screeched in panic and flew up as high as they could to avoid the gas, but it did them no good. In seconds, every inch of the cave was filled with the green fumes.

A moment passed.

Then, it started raining monsters.

Green Arrow covered his head as unconscious bat-monsters slammed onto the top of the Batmobile one after another like bags of meat dropped from the sky. J'onn and Alfred took cover under the large main computer as bat-monsters rained down on it as well. J'onn kept his body over the old butler to provide Alfred additional cover. Both man and Martian had gasmasks on their faces from a panel in the main computer security console. Batgirl and Nightwing, now free from the bat-monster mob that had overtaken them, held each other under an empty reinforced weapons locker they pulled down over themselves. Simple nose-mouth gas masks from their utility belts were on their faces. Each impact on their hiding place sounded like a giant fist pounding down on it. Together, they prayed the locker would hold up under the beating it was taking.

The Batman's crime-trophies all around the cave, from the Ventriloquist's wooden doll, Scarface, in its glass display case to the giant copper man-crushing penny, were at the mercy of the falling bat-creatures. Their sleeping forms smashed almost everything they met on their way down and continued to do so all over the cave until, finally the last monster body in the colony landed with a squishy thud atop the last intact display case, the one holding a life-size wax duplicate of the Man-bat.

Silence.

Suddenly, the sparkle of magic left the cave. Its departure transformed all the bat-creatures, whether they were in one piece or not, whether they were alive or not, back into their original forms.

A few moments later, there was movement from under the cave's main computer. J'onn moved from his position as Alfred's shield and got to his feet. Then J'onn reached down and helped Alfred to his. J'onn watched as Alfred hurried over to another part of the cave, stepping over sleeping bats as he went, and opened a camouflaged panel in the cave wall. He pulled a lever within it. Immediately, other powerful vents in the cave started to remove the gas and replace it with fresh air.

Alfred and J'onn looked around as the gas was sucked away. The cave, at least the central part of it had been devastated by the rain of monsters. While not particularly fond of them, Alfred felt sorry for the poor bats that now lied broken or dead on the cave floor and would not be able to rejoin their kin that survived the fall intact back on the cave's dark ceiling when the effects of the gas finally wore off. What a horrible mess, he thought.

J'onn took flight. He landed next to the weapons locker Nightwing and Batgirl had taken shelter under. It looked badly battered like a partially chewed piece of gum. It was covered in sleeping and dead bats. J'onn reached down with his right hand, took hold of the locker and lifted it upright. Underneath, Batgirl and Nightwing looked up at him. They were still holding each other. "Are you injured?" J'onn said.

Batgirl and Nightwing let go of one another and held out their hands. J'onn helped them to stand. "Nothing an entire bottle of iodine wouldn't fix," Batgirl said through her gas mask and looking at a nasty cut on her arm.

"And a tailor," Nightwing said looking at the three long perpendicular claw marks in the front of his black and blue costume, a scratch in the middle of each one.

They all heard a pounding sound and looked in the direction of the Batmobile's parking space. "Green Arrow," Batgirl said.

J'onn took to the air again and landed beside the Batmobile. The vehicle also looked battered and was covered in bats. Batgirl hit the button on her belt to open the Batmobile canopy again. The canopy slid open and Green Arrow, wearing a green nose-mouth gas mask from his personal equipment, looked up at J'onn from inside the machine. "Where did he take Black Canary?" Green Arrow said.

"I don't know." J'onn's eyes glowed for a moment. "And she is out of range of my telepathy." He helped Green Arrow out of the Batmobile.

Green Arrow put his fingers to the com-link in his ear. "Canary, do you read me?"

Static.

"Canary!"

Static.

"Damn, this thing," Green Arrow said. Green Arrow took the com-link out of his ear and threw it across the cave. Then, he kicked the side of the Batmobile.

Meanwhile, Nightwing used a device from his belt to check the air quality in the cave. Satisfied it was clean, he removed his gas mask. Everyone else followed suit and then they broke out the first aid kits and started attending to their wounds.

X X X

"I can't believe how useless we were against him, J'onn," Green Arrow said as he sat on a high stool and the Martian tended to a bad scratch on Green Arrow's back.

"I can relate," said a voice. All the heroes and Alfred stopped the healing task they were doing and looked in its direction. It was The Question. He walked slowly towards them holding his hand on the back of his head, his fedora in the other.

"Where were you?" Green Arrow said. His need to direct his anger at someone made these words harsher than he knew they should have been.

"At the Metrotower, until a moment ago. I used the transporter to get back here," The Question said, the aching in his body evident in his voice. "I was attacked by some teenager in a tuxedo. He cured Huntress right in front of me. Then he blasted me and took her from the tower."

"Cured her?" J'onn said.

The Question put his fedora back on his head. "He moved his hand over her and somehow made her corporeal again."

"Sounds like he's gained some serious power since Batman and Robin last fought him, if he's able to stabilize time with just his hand," Batgirl said.

"Agreed," J'onn said. "We should call Dr. Fate or one of the other League magic-users in on this. We will need help." But first,-J'onn walked over to Alfred who had returned to stitching a cut on Batgirl's back. He faced Alfred. "Well done, Mr. Pennyworth. You saved us all from Klarion's monsters."

"It was nothing, sir. I assure you," Alfred said. "I'm just sorry we could not prevent Ms. Canary from—

Nightwing and Batgirl lost their smiles. "There was nothing we could have done," J'onn said, putting a hand on Alfred's shoulder. "But thanks to you, we are still here to mount a rescue." Alfred smiled.

"But where did he take her? And, what did that punk mean when he said she was number three?" Green Arrow said.

"Hmmm," The Question said. "He called Huntress number two when he took her. Did he say anything else about her?"

"He called her a virtuous lady," Nightwing said.

The Question put his hand to his chin. After a moment, he put his fingers to the com-link in his ear. "Question to Watchtower."

"Flash here, what can I do for you, Question?"

"Flash, when communications came back on-line, did all League members check in?" The Question said.

"No, we still haven't heard anything from Batman, Zatanna or B'wana Beast. We have search teams out looking for them, but it's like they've disappeared off the globe. Why have you—oh damn."

"What?" The Question said.

"The transporters just went off-line again," Flash said. "Man, we just got them working."

"Why am I not surprised. Question out." The Question returned his attention to the people in front of him. "Zatanna was number one."

"Are you certain," J'onn said.

"Yes," The Question said. "We need to get to Kaznia. His next four targets are there."

"

"What makes you say that?" asked Batgirl.

"He's collecting the Justice League's seven most popular women—in the public eye anyway. The only ones on that list he doesn't have now are Wonder Woman, Vixen, Hawkgirl, and Fire," The Question said.

"All four of whom are in Kaznia, right now, assisting in the country's peace process," J'onn said.

"Exactly," The Question said.

"That's it, screw the Javelin. We need to get to Kaznia now. Let's use one of the towers' transporters, now that they're back on line," Green Arrow said.

"We can't. They're shut down again," The Question said.

"You mean Klarion's behind all the Justice League communication and transportation problems?" Nightwing said.

"Mabye," The Question said. "It's too early to tell."

"Well, what makes you think he wants just those seven women?" Batgirl said.

"Well, besides the fact Klarion didn't help himself to you, an attractive and heroic woman in your own right, like Nightwing said, he called Canary virtuous," The Question said.

"Of course, there are seven virtues, just like there are seven sins," Green Arrow said.

"He gave us a clue," J'onn said.

"Why am I creeped out at the fact he just called me attractive?" Batgirl whispered to Nightwing behind her hand. He chuckled.

"But what does he want the women for and why give us a clue?" Nightwing said.

"What does any male in a tux want?" The Question said.

"Green Arrow's mouth went dry as he spoke, "A bride to be."

The Question nodded. "And, for us his guests to be on time."


	19. Reality Melts

Wonder Woman was on her bed in one of the many guest rooms in the Government House of Kaznia. She sat with her back against the headboard, and she used the room's night table lamp for light. She had slipped on a soft white bathrobe from her room's closet after taking a shower, opened the room's window for some fresh air, and took the room's TV remote control into her hand. Now, with her black-hair still wet and wrapped in a towel, she channel-surfed in an attempt to take her mind off the conversation she had with Shayera in the Diana room's Jacuzzi and, days earlier, the argument she had had with The Batman in the Metro-Tower.

Wonder Woman watched the images on the TV change: CNN, a cooking show, a cop drama, a Kaznian comedy show, a Kaznian news station, an old movie. She paused at the old movie as she felt a tingle at sight of the man on the screen. He wore a black flowing cape, a black flat-brimmed Andalusian-style hat, and a black cowl mask that covered the top of the head from eye level upwards. The TV's digital information at the bottom of the screen identified the movie as The Mark of Zorro. Wonder Woman watched as the masked man held a brown-haired woman in his arms, their eyes locked, their lips dangerously close. He was speaking to her. Wonder Woman turned up the TV's volume so she could hear what the masked-man was saying. His voice was strong and smooth at the same time.

"If this could be the high Sierras I would level them to your feet. The wild waves on Capistrano's shore would pay you homage. I'd make the desert a million roses yield-to die in shame before your beauty," the man in black said to the woman.

At these words, Wonder Woman's imagination took control of her eyes and she saw not the actor and actress, but The Batman and herself on the screen. They kissed. Her lips curled into a warm smile as she forgot her anger at the Dark Knight and sunk deeper into the fantasy.

There was a knock on her room's door.

A cold chill went up Wonder Woman's spine and blood filled her cheeks. "Oh, Hera, how man's world has changed me," she thought. She pressed the button on the remote to change the channel and hide her shame. Zorro disappeared and was replaced with—hard core porn. Wonder Woman went wide-eyed at what she saw on the screen and dropped the TV remote. Flustered, she tried to grab it the instant it left her hand and ended up backhanding the remote away. It hit the night table lamp, smashed through it, bounced off the wall, hit the floor and slid unseen under a small chair in the room. To make matters worse, for some reason the volume level she had increased the TV to for Zorro made this station twice as loud. Wonder Woman practically dove off the bed after the remote as the Kaznian man and woman on the screen filled the room with their passionate grunts and groans.

Wonder Woman searched the floor frantically for the remote, her eyes not offering much help to her scrambling hands as the former worked to adjust to the change in light. The man and woman's grunts, groans, and now squishy sounds continued unabated.

"Diana?" Queen Audrey said from behind the door.

"Coming! Oh, Hades. I mean, I'll be right there!" Wonder Woman said as she finally managed to place her hand on the remote. She aimed it at the TV with both hands and pressed the power button.

It didn't work. The remote had been damaged when it smashed through the lamp and hit the wall. The couple on the screen climaxed just as she crawled forward and reached out to hit the TV's power button. She missed and hit the volume button instead. The couple's shouts of ecstasy exploded from the TV speaker as the green vertical digital lines under the word 'volume' on the TV screen expanded like an accordion at a polka-fest.

Two guards on patrol down below on the house grounds looked up at Diana's window as the TV couple's climactic cries blasted out of it. The first man looked at the window surprised. The other just looked and smirked knowingly. "See, Now you know why they call her Wonder Woman," The first man looked at his fellow guard, back at the window, and then back to his fellow guard. He nodded smiling.

Desperate, Wonder Woman grabbed the television's power cord and yanked it out of the wall. The room went dark and silent.

A moment later, Wonder Woman opened the door to her room letting the hallway light into her dark room. "Yes?" she said.

Queen Audrey stood there with a set of folded clothes in one hand and her other hand on her hip. There was a smirk on her face. She looked Wonder Woman up and down. The amazon's bathrobe was slightly opena and dishelveld from her frantic search for the remote. Wonder Woman followed Audrey's eyes with her own, saw her exposed flesh and quickly covered herself. "It's not what you think. I'm totally alone in here and- Audrey smirked again. "And it wasn't that either!" Diana said. "Oh, Hera! What do you want—Suddenly, Diana remembered her manners and forcibly calmed herself—'your majesty."

"Relax, Diana. I'm not thinking anything. I simply wanted to bring your clothes to you. You left them behind in the baths. Not a duty for a Queen, I know, but definitely something a friend does," Queen Audrey said.

Wonder Woman took the folded clothes-her Wonder Woman uniform with her Tiara and bracelets placed neatly on top. "Sorry about that—leaving the baths so abruptly, I mean. I just needed to be alone," Wonder Woman said. She walked into the room leaving the door open for Queen Audrey to enter. Audrey followed. She turned on the room light before closing the door. Diana went behind the room's dressing screen and removed her bathrobe.

"No need to apologize, Diana, especially to those two male servants you passed on your way to your room after leaving the baths. I saw them on their knees in the castle chapel. I've never heard two men offer so much thanks to God."

"Very funny," Wonder Woman said as she put on her uniform.

Queen Audrey laughed. "Actually, Diana, all this man-business with you is quite refreshing."

Diana stepped out from behind the screen. "What do you mean?" Wonder Woman said.

"With all do respect, darling, the whole no men allowed thing you Amazon's do is unnatural. I mean, let's face it, even your mighty Hera has a man," Queen Audrey said.

"And he drives her crazy," Wonder Woman said.

"Nobody said love was easy," Queen Audrey said.

Wonder Woman smirked. "Look, let keep it straight here. It's him that turned me down, remember?"

"Well, he does dress like a bat, darling. You can't tell me his blindness surprises you," Queen Audrey said.

Wonder Woman let out a small laugh. "You would think it wouldn't."

"So move on, darling. There's a ton of men out there. How about that Captain Marvel? He's very handsome, and from what I hear, he's in good with your pantheon," Queen Audrey said.

"Audrey," Wonder Woman said.

"Just a suggestion," Queen Audrey said, while looking at her finely-manicured fingernails.

Wonder Woman walked over to the guest room's vanity and opened the top drawer. She removed her magic lasso from it and put in on her belt. "The problem is, Audrey, I don't want anyone else."

"This Batman must be someone very special," Queen Audrey said.

Diana paused in thought and then looked at Audrey again. "It's funny you mentioned Captain Marvel. Do you know they call him the world's mightiest mortal?"

"I've heard that," Queen Audrey said. "He must be if he was willing to take on Superman. I read about how the two of them had a misunderstanding and went at it in the middle of a Lex Luthor-sponsored housing project almost three years ago."

Wonder Woman frowned, "Well, be that as it may, the people who nicknamed Captain Marvel clearly had not met The Batman." Wonder Woman's face brightened. "He's amazing, Audrey. Time and again I have seen him get out of the worst situations with nothing more than his wits and his will. He has no special powers like me, yet villains with special powers tremble at the whisper of his very name. And I, well-She paused as her cheeks reddened-'I thrill at the very sight of him. It's only gotten stronger, or maybe I should I say worse, with time." Wonder Woman put her hand on her head as if she suddenly got a headache. She sighed. "I don't know. The more he pushes me away the more I—. Well, you know how I never like to give up."

"You're sure this isn't just about sex?" Queen Audrey said.

"What?" Wonder Woman said.

"Just going back to what you were going on about in the baths. I think it's a fair question. I don't know what you amazon's do on that island of yours when you're alone together, but I imagine it's no where near as great as what can be had between a man and a woman. Or even if it is, I'm willing to bet you have no experience to compare it too." Queen Audrey paused. "You don't do you?" Queen Audrey said.

Wonder Woman looked like she'd been accused of eating a cat. "What? No! I mean... I mean… Oh, Hades, I don't know what I mean. That stupid little man. If he'd just give me a chance I could—

Suddenly, the whole house shook. "What was that, an earthquake?" Queen Audrey said.

Wonder Woman was suddenly all business. "Wait here," she said and she headed for the window.

She never made it.

A section of floor became like living clay and formed into a hand. The hand seized Wonder Woman around her entire body and pulled her back. The hand's grip was vice-like. She groaned under the pressure.

Queen Audrey cried out as the whole floor lost its solidity. She jumped onto the bed just in time, but left one of her high heels behind, and it sank fast into the floor. Audrey's scream refocused Wonder Woman. She grit her teeth and strained against the supernatural hand holding her. A moment later, the hand burst apart. Wonder Woman was free.

The room paused for a moment in the middle of its supernatural liquefaction. It was as if the room was alive and Wonder Woman's escape had surprised it. Fortunately, a moment was all Wonder Woman needed. She flew fast, picked up Queen Audrey and flew out the window just before the room resumed its deterioration and the window lost its form completely.

Things were no better outside. The whole area around the Kaznian Government House was losing its form. The flowers, the trees, the motor vehicles, the animals, were melting into the mix. Meanwhile, the Government House soldiers and servants cried out in horror as they sank into the ever-growing goop that was once their workplace. "My people," Queen Audrey said in a terrified whisper.

Wonder Woman, meanwhile, tore her eyes away from the ground to look at the sky. It had begun to darken, a whirlpool of clouds forming overhead. Thunder started to clap and forked-lightning struck the deformed earth with its gnarled fingers.

A scream from Queen Audrey brought Wonder Woman's attention back to the ground just in time to dodge two huge tentacles the mass of melted objects below had formed to snare her and the Queen. Queen Audrey's stomach did flip-flops as Wonder Woman carried her through air-turns and air-rolls to keep them out of the tentacles' grasp. Wonder Woman knew the fates were on her side when the two terrible arms inadvertently slammed into each other and got stuck.

Taking a second to look downward, Wonder Woman saw more tentacles forming in the goopy mass below. She chose a direction and flew as fast as she dare, with Queen Audrey in her arms. She had to find somewhere to set Queen Audrey down safely before she could be any help to the other Kaznians below. Wonder Woman came to a stop in the air when she spotted Hawkgirl, Vixen and Fire. The three heroes were fighting a bunch of the same tentacles that had attacked Wonder Woman and Audrey earlier. Vixen leapt to and from the remaining solid objects on the ground with the agility and mass of a monkey. She dodged tentacles while trying desperately to get to Fire. Fire, in the air and in her hero form—a being of green flame-sent blasts of emerald-colored fire everywhere a tentacle got to close to her as she tried to get to Vixen so she could fly both of them to safety. However, Fire's blasts only knocked the tentacles back. It did nothing to destroy them.

Only Shayera's attacks seemed to be having any serious effect. The winged-warrior cried out, her voice filled with battle-rage, and swung her spiked energy-crackling mace at each tentacle that tried to entangle her. When the mace struck them, the tentacles filed with the energy from her mace and came apart completely. The bits of the tentacles became solid bits of whatever they used to be and fell back down into thick goopy matter from which they came.

It was at that moment what Wonder Woman suspected was confirmed. It was magic that was causing all this destruction—the very thing that Shayera's Nth-metal mace disrupted. Wonder Woman was about to shout this information to her friends, when Vixen's scream filled the air then abruptly stopped as the mass swallowed her whole. "No!" cried Fire just before a wave of tentacles reached up like a thousand angry giant octopi and took her under too. Shayera knocked another tentacle to pieces and another. Then, she turned and dove at the mass hoping a strike from her mace would free Fire and Vixen before it was too late. Just then, the sky flashed and a finger of lightning struck Shayera. She cried out as all her muscles seized. Her mace fell from her hand, and she fell with it into the flowing mass below, Her smoldering wings left a trail of smoke in the air.

"Shayera!" Wonder Woman cried. The sky flashed again and another finger of lightning raced out from the clouds, this time at Wonder Woman. However, her super-human reflexes allowed her to put one of her bracelets between her and the bolt, deflecting the bolt away. However, the sheer power of the blast caused Wonder Woman to lose control in the sky and lose Queen Audrey as well. She tried to swoop down and catch Queen Audrey who was in the middle of a scream. Unfortunately, this time, two bolts of lighting, both more powerful than the first, struck Wonder Woman from behind. Wonder Woman cried out in pain and fell unconscious into the squirming mass waiting below.


	20. All Together Now

"We are fortunate the Javelin suffered only superficial damage from the falling bat-creatures," J'onn said from the Javelin's pilot seat as he guided the craft on a heading for Kaznia.

Nightwing and Batgirl, both in fresh uniforms, frowned. "I wish we could say the same for the Batcave," Nightwing said from the seat behind him as he retied his dark ponytail and adjusted his mask.

"No kidding," Batgirl said from the seat behind Nightwing. She adjusted her cowl and straightened her yellow gloves on her hands. "I say we make Klarion clean it up after we stop him."

"Don't worry, he'll get his," Green Arrow said from the co-pilot seat.

"Assuming we can stop him," The Question said as he looked out the window next to his seat behind Green Arrow."

"Com'on, Question. Let's keep things positive," Green Arrow said.

The Question did not reply.

"How much longer to Kaznia?" Nightwing said.

"Soon. We're making great time," Green Arrow said. Then, suddenly, the Javelin control panel beeped.

"I've got something on radar, dead ahead," J'onn said.

"It's changing direction. It's heading straight for us now," Green Arrow said.

Green Arrow looked out the front window for visual identification. His mouth fell open. "I see it, but I don't believe it."

Batgirl Nightwing and The Question all shifted in their seats to see what Green Arrow and J'onn were seeing.

Their jaws all dropped, save Batgirl's. She covered her mouth with her finger tips and giggled.

Starfire, with a smile as wide as her face, and sporting a gondolier's hat on her head, waved enthusiastically at the heroes in the Javelin. The Batman, with a scowl as big as his face, was hanging on to her.

After navigating to a suitable altitude, J'onn pressed a switch on the Javelin control panel in front of him and opened the Javelin's boarding hatch. Nightwing and Batgirl undid their seat belts, hurried to the back of the ship, and helped Starfire and The Batman aboard.

"Thank-you, friends!" Starfire said as soon as the hatch was safely closed. The cheerfulness in her voice was almost a tangible thing. She looked at The Batman. "The Batman and I have been-she looked at the Batman and, meeting his glare, her expression and voice immediately lost their sunshine. 'Um, maybe he should tell you."

The Batman walked forward, his pitch black cape taking the space behind him like a dark phantom. The first hero in his path was J'onn who had come to the rear of the Javelin to see if The Batman or Starfire needed medical attention. "I'm driving," the Batman said without looking at the Martian or stopping. The Martian said nothing. Expressionless, he stepped aside and the Batman passed him.

"Now, just a second," Green Arrow said getting out of his seat to face the dark form of The Batman.

"Move!" The Batman said.

Green Arrow's eyes went wide and a chill went down his spine. Although he made no conscious decision to do so, he moved to let The Batman pass as well.

The Batman was two steps away from the pilot's chair when it spun around. The Question sat in it.

The Batman stopped and the two men faced each other. No one else aboard the Javelin dared speak.

"Not now," the Batman said.

The Question stood, but he stood up just slow enough to show it was his choice to do so. He put his face right in The Batman's. "Agreed, because as you probably don't know, Klarion, whatever his designs for her, has restored Huntress."

The Batman said nothing and did not waver.

The Question continued, "However, my gut tells me this is only a temporary state of affairs. So, don't think the problems between you and I have gone away. They haven't. Go talk with J'onn. He'll bring you up to speed on the situation as it stands now. And while you're getting a clue, I'll drive."

Silence fell again. The Batman's eyes narrowed and to everyone watching The Batman and The Question, it looked as if the Batman had suddenly become all shadow. Everyone, save The Question, took a step back. Starfire who thought she knew scary from living with Raven, moved back as far the Javelin's hull would let her.

The Batman turned away. He said nothing as he walked past Green Arrow and then J'onn again. He headed for the back of the ship. J'onn followed him.

The Question stood his ground a couple of seconds longer and then sat down in the pilot's chair, turned off the autopilot and started to fly the Javelin. Only after he was sure no one was looking did he remove a handkerchief from his coat pocket and wipe the cold sweat from the back of his neck.

X X X

Somewhere, two pairs of eyes watched a TV. In the centre of the screen was the Batman's grim face.

"He's going to figure it out," she said. "You should have let me finish what I started."

"Temporal Anomalies? Boring! Not to mention way too Star Trek! Relax, babe, you worry too much," he said from his place on the sofa beside her. Just sit back and let the old master show you how it's done." He aimed the TV remote at Batman's face and pressed a button. "Who says there's nothing good on TV anymore?"

She sighed.


	21. Better The Demon You Know?

The Watchtower was on Alpha alert. Sensor, communication and transporter systems had been going on and off-line all day now. None of the fifty plus heroes on board, even super-intelligent heroes like Mr. Terrific could explain the malfunctions with their equipment. Every time they would fix one system, two others would go down. It took an uneasy feeling from the mystic hero Dr. Fate to determine magic was responsible. Fate, now certain of his conclusion, hovered in the centre of the Watchtower. He was summoning all the power at his command to try and break the simple but strong and near-undetectable spell of chaos the Watchtower was under. His gold near-Corinthian-style Helm of Nabu, the round gold Amulet of Anubis at his neck, and the rest of his blue and gold uniform shined with intense power. The spells he employed had the side-effect of a mystical breeze, which gently played with his cape.

Meanwhile, Mr. Terrific, the third smartest person in the world, and Flash, the fastest man alive, had spent most of the day keeping the Justice League's tactical organization from falling into further disorder. It was a makeshift setup. Stuck on the Watchtower, heroes with psychic abilities were the only way for Mr. Terrific to keep track of heroes on Earth and in the watch tower. Once he had enough information from the psychics to work with, he pieced it together into something logical and relayed it verbally to the Flash. Flash would then race to all of the ten airlocks on the Watchtower. At these airlocks, single heroes or teams of heroes able to travel back and forth between the Watchtower's place in orbit and the Earth below waited for him to send them to their next task. Mr. Terrific prayed these teams, plus the few Justice Leaguers currently on Earth, would be able to keep whatever major crimes and problems the psychics were missing in check until Watchtower systems were restored.

In one of the brief times the communication systems between the Watchtower and Earth were actually working, Mr. Terrific, per standard protocol, informed The President of the United States of the Watchtower's system troubles. The President promised the African-American hero with the black "T"-shaped nanite-composed mask to do what he could to keep the sporadically blind, deaf and mute Watchtower out of the news, while the Justice League worked to fix the problem. Both Mr. Terrific and the President hoped the Justice League could solve whatever was wrong before the super-villain community let alone the regular bad guys got wind of their problems. When The President broke the connection, Mr. Terrific took a minute to stretch his weary body and work the kinks out of his shoulder with his own hand. His body ached as he had yet to take a break since all this trouble started. He found himself wishing Vixen was here with him. By now she would have ambushed him in one of the Watchtower utility closets or, better yet, in his quarters. Not to mention, that woman could work wonders on a man's shoulders.

In truth, Mr. Terrific had never met a woman with a greater understanding and sensitivity to the mental and physical needs of a man than Vixen. Now that they were dating—the two of them meeting up shortly after their previous relationships ended-it made him feel really spoiled sometimes. So much so, Mr. Terrific had put his mind to studying her so he could be just as much to their relationship as she was. He also promised himself he would do his best to never take Vixen for granted.

Hardly satisfied with his self-shoulder-massaging abilities, Mr. Terrific sighed and wished his woman a safe return from Kaznia. Then, Mr. Terrific straightened the sleeves on his black collarless jacket. His eyes fell for an instant to the red words FAIR PLAY on each of the sleeves. Then, he sighed again and went back to his circle of psychics.

Meanwhile, with another mission on his lips, Flash raced to the airlocks to see if any of the "back and forth" heroes had returned from their current missions on Earth. He saw the Japanese heroine Dr. Light leaning against the airlock door waiting for him. Like all the other heroes Flash worked with today, she looked tired.

"What's next, Flash?" she said, standing up straight. She used her hands to straighten her long white cape and dust off some of the dirt on her black and white uniform. Her attire, with its white M-shaped tiara and white boots reminded Flash of a white starburst against the blackness of space.

"There might be a hostage situation at a school somewhere in New Mexico."

Dr. Light frowned. "Maybe and New Mexico, that's all you've got for me?" she said.

"Yeah, sorry," Flash said.

Dr. Light put a hand on her forehead to calm herself and put some pressure on the headache she was getting. "No, I'm sorry, Flash. It's just we've been so busy today. Any idea when Superman and Green Lantern will get back from, what's the planet called now, Draaga? We could really use their help."

"No clue, I'm afraid. With interstellar communications down, we can't contact them. We tried to get a hold of Captain Marvel to take some of the workload off us, but he's fighting baddies in another dimension right now, I'm told."

"Bummer," Dr, Light said.

Flash smiled. "I'd stand outside and shout through a megaphone if it'd help, but not even Superman's ears are that good. And then of course there's that whole no air in space thing."

Dr. Light laughed. "At least we've got you here to keep us smiling."

Flash smiled, "Just one of my many talents." In the time it would have taken Dr. Light to snap her fingers, Flash zipped to the medical bay and returned to the exact spot where he was standing, but now he held a glass of water and two white acetaminophen tablets. "This is another," he said.

Dr, Light was pleasantly surprised. She took the tablets and water from Flash with a smile and consumed them. She handed the empty glass back to the Flash. "Wish me luck," she said.

"Good Luck. Check in with the state police when you get there and maybe you can get a lead on where the hostage situation is," Flash said.

"Right," Dr. Light said with a wink. She turned around and started to type in the code to open the access to the airlock. When she did, her cape moved just enough for Flash to glance at her small smooth backside. Nice, he thought.

Suddenly, but hardly fast enough to catch Flash's checking her out, Dr. Light looked over her shoulder. "Oh, by the way, the next time you see Fire, tell her I've finished listening to my new SMAP MD. She can come and borrow it from me whenever she wants."

"Roger Dodger," Flash said giving her a quick one-finger salute off his forehead. He watched with a smile as Dr, Light surrounded herself in an exoskeleton of white light and entered the airlock. A few moments later, she was in space and on her way back to Earth.

Fire. Flash thought about her as he watched Dr, Light go. The scarlet speedster and green-haired Brazilian pyro-morph had been dating on and off since their mission on Blackhawk Island just over two years ago. Back then, Fire's beauty so overwhelmed Flash he could hardly form words in her presence, while Flash's status as one of the original seven founders of the Justice League intimidated Fire into speaking without thinking first. Now, happily for both of them, that was in the past. Their relationship had matured and had become a lot of fun for them both.-at least until a month ago.

After an evening of video arcades, amusements parks, conversation, and love making, Fire worked up the courage to ask Flash where he thought their relationship was going. Hesitation devices fell out of his mouth like they were the only sounds he knew. Only a sudden alert from the Watchtower calling them both to duty saved him from complete embarrassment.

Since then, Fire had yet to bring up the question again, but that had not kept Flash from thinking about it. He honestly did not know if he should feel like he dodged a bullet or missed an incredible opportunity. He sighed. "I guess there are some things in this world even the fastest man alive can't decide quickly," he said to the empty hallway in which he stood. Just then, he felt ashamed. He silently criticized himself for checking out Dr. Light "assets". He made a promise to himself he would bring up the relationship question with Fire again when she got back from Kaznia and see where it led, or at the very least try to keep his wandering eye under control until he had settled things with her.

In the next second, Flash was back in the centre of the Watchtower. He saw Dr. Fate had stopped spell casting. The mystic was now on the floor face down in the centre of the Watchtower. He was trying to stand, but looked too exhausted. Flash was at Dr. Fate's side instantly. He helped the magic-user to his feet. "Doc, what happened?"

"Something terrible… in Kaznia." Dr, Fate said.

A chill went down Flash's spine. "Doc, what—

Dr. Fate never heard the end of Flash's sentence. Instead, he found himself falling back down to the ground. When Dr. Fate managed to look and see why Flash had dropped him, he disocvered the scarlet speedster had vanished without a trace. Mr. Terrific, who just came to the centre of the Watchtower to meet Flash saw him disappear and Dr. Fate fall. Mr. Terrific hurried over to help Dr. Fate, but he never made it. Dr. Fate watched him disappear too. "What the hell is going on?" Fate said.

X X X

Queen Audrey of Kaznia awoke in darkness. She could not move. Her hands, feet, and waist were all held in place.

"This really sucks. I can't even change my shorts let alone my shape in this wall," Beast Boy whined.

"There's an image I didn't need," Raven said. "All our powers are having trouble working in this place, not just yours. So just keep quiet unless you come up with something useful to say. Your complaining is driving me crazy."

"Hello?" Audrey said.

"Cyborg turned on his shoulder light at a low setting. Audrey shut her eyes against the light. Then, she slowly opened them as they adjusted to it. She looked around. She a number of costumed heroes, were trapped inside a sloppily formed cave of the liquid goo her home had turned into prior to her falling in it. The goo had hardened and held them all in what looked stocks and pillories made from multi-colored chewing gum.

"Welcome to the party," Cyborg said

"What's happened?" Audrey said.

"I wish we could tell you, ma'am," Robin said. The Boy Wonder had woken up from Zatanna's spell some time ago. "But, we're not really sure. First, we were on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean. Then this giant whirlpool came out of nowhere, sucked us down, and we all woke up here."

Audrey looked hard at the heroes through the near darkness. "You're the Teen Titans, aren't you?"

"Hey, she knows us!" Beast Boy said.

"Yes, we are, but we had four others traveling with us. We don't know where they are now," Robin said.

"And who might you, be?" Raven said.

Raven's creaky door voice, with a hint of suspicion in it, gave Audrey's heart a chill. "I-I am Audrey, Queen of Kaznia. This place, it used to be part of my country. It was…" She stopped. "Wait, is Dia- She cleared her throat. "I mean, Wonder Woman here with us?" Queen Audrey said.

"Wonder Woman, here?" Beast Boy said. He looked at Raven and she at him.

"I wish," Cyborg said as he tried in vain to break free of his bonds. I've moved my light all over this place and I haven't seen a single amazon.

"Wonder Woman's part of this too?" Robin said.

"Yes, we are friends. She, along with Fire, Vixen, Hawkgirl, Hawk and Dove, came to Kaznia to help me with Kaznia's upcoming peace conference."

"So we're in Kaznia now?" Cyborg said.

"Seems that way," Robin said.

"Wow, it's a convention of super-hotties!" Beast Boy said in his squeaky voice. "Well, except for Hawk and Dove. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're cool and all. They're just not hot, at least not to me. I mean, I'm sure some woman would find them pretty attractive, maybe even hot, just not me, well, because I'm a guy, and I just don't lean that way and-

Raven looked at Beast Boy from her place beside him. Her head grew to five times Beast Boy's body size. She spoke with grit teeth and white fiery eyes. "THAT'S-NOT-HELPING."

Beast Boy sweat-dropped, "Heh-Heh. Here I am shutting-up again."

"We'll whatever is going on, since none of our powers or tools can bust these nose-goblins holding us, we're stuck here until we figure a way out," Cyborg said. Everyone looked at the hardened goo that imprisoned them and frowned.

X X X

Etrigan roared. The sound shook the walls of the cavern in which he was trapped. The walls of the cavern were strange. They looked like some kid had made them out of everything and anything he could find, after grinding all the items into a paste. Etrigan strained with all his power and anger against the prison that held him—a metal "X"-shaped crucifix to which his wrists and ankles were manacled. The manacles would not break and that only made him angrier. "Wait until I get my claws into you, boy! I know it was you that created that whirlpool! I'd know the stink of your magic anywhere! This whole place reeks of you!" Again the demon tried to muscle his way out of his bonds, but freedom would not come. "Blast you, witch-boy! I will see you burn for this!"

"Oh, I think not, Etrigan," Klarion said as he stepped out of the shadows. "As you well know now, I am far more powerful than I was when you imprisoned me in that glass globe almost five years ago."

"And as you know, it was only my bond to Jason blood and his conscience that kept me from killing you that night with my bare hands!"

"Yes, it must be so terrible for you, a demon of the pit, to have become so full of Uncle Jason's compassion. He has made your bark now far worse than your bite. And, now with both of you in love with that pixie Zatanna—.

Etrigan growled.

"Yes, I know all about your romance. Don't bother denying it, Etrigan. Your soul is bound to Uncle Jason's. Uncle Jason cannot love someone unless you love her as well." Klarion shook his head. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. What would the darkest one of all say if he knew? Better yet, what would he do to you?"

Etrigan scowled and bared his teeth at the witch-boy. He tried to fire an energy blast from his eyes, but the power would not come. He sensed immediately it had something to do with the crucifix to which he was bound.

Klarion laughed. When he finished he reached inside his suit jacket and removed an item. He held it for the demon to see. "Remember this, Etrigan?"

Etrigan's eyes fell on the branding iron of Morgan Le Fay and for the briefest of moments, there was fear in Etrigan's eyes. However, his anger immediately returned and smashed his fear to bits. Etrigan roared and fought his bonds again. "I will drink the blood from your skull, Klarion!"

Klarion walked up and looked Etrigan in the eye. "You know, just before I captured The Batman and stuck him in that underground cave with Uncle Jason, I told him I had bigger plans for the brand than using it to play around with you. And while I still do have bigger plans, I realize I cannot resist the opportunity to have you serve me again. It's just too much fun to make you do something you absolutely hate." He smacked Etrigan across the jaw with the brand. "And believe me, this time you will be my servant for more than just a night." Klarion's eyes narrowed. "This time, it will be forever."

Etrigan roared again and struggled against the crucifix once more. Meanwhile, Klarion held the brand above his head. "Ancient Morgan, I beseech you! From what is one now make two!" The "M" shape on the end of the branding iron started to glow until it was red hot. Even though the brand was not touching him, the "M" shape burned itself into the middle of Etrigan's forehead. There was a scream of pain from both Etrigan and Jason Blood. The demon became as solid as a ghost for a moment as Merlin's ancient and powerful spell which bound his soul to Jason Blood's was broken. The demon floated down to the ground from the crucifix and became solid once more. Jason Blood's unconscious form hung limp on the crucifix behind him.

Klarion laughed again. "Now come, Etrigan we have prisoners to check on."

Etrigan grimaced, "Yes… master."

X X X

"Uhn, did anyone get the license plate of the truck that hit me?" Vixen said. When she got no answer she looked around. That was when she saw her wrists and ankles were cuffed to an X-shaped metal crucifix. She, Black Canary, Wonder Woman, Fire, Huntress, Zatanna and Shayera were all confined in the same manner. Their crucifixes were in a line, with Wonder Woman's in the centre. Shayera, Vixen, and Fire were on Wonder Woman's right. Zatanna, Black Canary and Huntress were on her left. Like Vixen, the other ladies were just returning to consciousness.

"Where am I?" Huntress said.

Black Canary slowly looked to her left. Not sure if the voice she just heard was an effect of the grogginess she felt. When she saw Huntress, her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. "Huntress! You're here! You're all right!" Suddenly filled with an impulse to embrace her friend, Black Canary struggled against her bonds. She gave a frustrated grunt when she did not break free. She looked at her friend again. "How?"

Huntress raised her eyebrow at Black Canary, surprised by Canary's concern for her. Then, she cleared her throat and spoke. "I'm not really sure. It has to do with some punk in a tuxedo. He had a narrow jaw and a creepy haircut. When he showed up, I was in the med-wing in the Metro Tower. Then, after he literally zipped my mouth shut, I woke up here. The Question was with me, but I don't know what happened to him." Huntress paused as worry for Question made her throat tighten. She refocused on her anger. "If I could just get my hands on that little creep."

"The little creeps's name is Klarion," Zatanna said shaking her head.

Wonder Woman gave her head a little shake to clear it. The amazon's body still ached from the lightning that knocked her unconscious in the first place. She looked at Zatanna. "I've heard The Batman mention the name. Who is he?"

"He's a witch, or, rather, a witch-boy," Zatanna said.

"What do you mean?" Fire said, still a bit groggy.

"Think spoiled rich-kid with magic powers," Zatanna said.

Shayera raised her head. "It's too bad lost my mace when I fell. I would have had just the thing to spank him with." This comment made Wonder Woman smile.

"Fire, strength is no good against these bonds. Can you burn your way out?" Wonder Woman said.

Fire concentrated and tried to burst into flame. After a moment, she frowned. "I-I can't ignite."

"Zatanna, how about you?" Wonder Woman said.

"Hold on," Zatana said. She concentrated like Fire had. "Esaeler su morf ruo sdnob!" Nothing happened. Zatanna took a deep breath and concentrated again. "Sdnob fo latem, nepo! Tes su eerf!" Zatanna frowned."

"I can't get out of my cuffs or activate my powers either." Vixen said.

Wonder Woman exhaled through her teeth in frustration. "How about you, Black Canary? Huntress?"

"No, my cry won't work. Every time I try, I get this tingly feeling in my throat." Black Canary said.

"These cuffs have no locks or hinges for me to pick," Huntress said.

"Hades," Wonder Woman cursed. "This Klarion seems to have prepared his prison well."

"Where are we anyway?" Fire said. The ladies looked around. They were in a round room with smooth white walls. Red carpet covered the floor. There was gold trim where the carpet met the wall. However, the crucifixes were the only furniture in the place.

Huntress tried again to free herself with her strength. "Stupid magic. Why can't he use rope or chains with locks like everyone else?"

"Because I'm not like everyone else," said a voice. The women looked straight ahead and walking toward them as if he had just walked through the wall was Klarion. Beside him and twice as tall was the yellow-skinned demon, Etrigan.

"Etrigan?" Zatanna said. The demon ignored her.

"I see you're wearing your Sunday best," Vixen said with a frown to Klarion.

"I always do," Klarion said.

"Let me get you a coffin to go with it," Huntress said.

Klarion walked over to Huntress and traced a heart around her belly button. It made her feel ill. "Now, Huntress is that any way to speak to the man who saved your life from time itself?"

"I don't see any men here," Vixen said.

Klarion frowned at Vixen. Just then, Huntress spat at Klarion. Klarion eyes narrowed even more and the spray from Huntress' mouth stopped in midair next to his face. Almost unnoticeably, Klarion gestured forward with his chin. The spittle raced to his left and splattered all over Vixen's face. He looked back at Huntress, while Vixen fumed and shook her head to get the spittle out of her eyes.

"Don't use it all in one place, Huntress, I have plans for that wet mouth of yours."

Huntress scowled, "I'll bring my teeth."

"Bet it's a small bite," Vixen said.

"Etrigan, why are you with Klarion?" Zatanna said.

Etrigan looked down and away from her, ashamed.

Klarion smiled. "Etrigan serves me now just as you all will very soon. I'm just waiting for your boyfriends to get here before I start the show. I want them to bear witness when I take you all from them." He looked at Shayera, Vixen and Fire. Oh, and ladies, if you think your going to be left out because Green Lantern's in another galaxy and Flash and Mr. Terrific are on the Watchtower, think again." Klarion snapped his fingers. Behind the witch-boy, Green Lantern, The Flash and Mr. Terrific appeared. Like the women, they were cuffed to X-shaped crucifixes as well. However, unlike the women, they were still unconscious.

"No, Flash!" Fire said.

"T," Vixen said.

"John," Shayera gasped.

Shayera saw Green Lantern's head move and was about to say her lover's name again. However, the word caught in her throat when Klarion snapped his fingers and made the men and their prisons disappear.

"Where did you send them?," Shayera growled. Klarion ignored her.

"Why are you doing this?" Fire said.

"Oh' you'll see," Klarion said. He turned to leave, but Wonder Woman's eyes caught his attention.

"The Justice League will stop you," Wonder Woman said.

Klarion returned her glare. After a moment, he stepped back. "Etrigan, he said." Etrigan stepped between Klarion and Wonder Woman. Using all his strength, the yellow demon slapped her across the face with the back of his hand. At the same time, Klarion added some of his own power to the demon's strike. The sound was like a giant had clapped his hands in the room. Wonder Woman's face snapped to the side so hard she actually felt her neck stretch. Her head dropped like a stone on the end of her neck. Blood trickled down from the inside of her cheek. It traveled out her mouth, down her chin, where it dripped steadily onto the floor. The rest of the Justice League women could not hide their fear at what they just saw. "Let that be a lesson to the rest of you. A woman should always know her place." The women watched Klarion as he walked away. Etrigan turned to follow. After a few steps, the witch-boy and the demon became incorporeal and then faded away all together.

X X X

Carlie Greene swam for her life in the dark ocean water, but it was no use. The shark chasing her caught up and slid its mouth over the lower half of her body. It bit down. There was a moment of incredible pain where her waist met her back as the teeth tore into her flesh. Then, the shark's features disappeared and it became a large fish tail. Carlie slowly, but steadily became the dark mermaid again. The transformation was painful and suffocating as the same time. She cried out.

Carlie awoke at the counter of her grandfather's bookstore. She had fallen asleep on her arms there. She looked around at the shelves upon shelves of books, both contemporary and classic, both new and worn. She looked directly in front of her and saw the two-sided rack her grandfather had built to support their number one money maker: comics. Just then, one of the comic books on the rack caught her eye. The comic book was old. The words "B'WANA BEAST, the jungle master" were at the top. Below the letters she saw a man. He was drawn muscular as all male comic book heroes were. He looked like Tarzan in his tight-fitting cheetah shorts, but the red helmet he wore reminded her of those bright-colored plastic space-ranger helmets you could buy for kids at department stores. The man was in action on the cover. He was punching out an angry gorilla in order to protect a dark-skinned man dressed in jungle explorer's garb. To her surprise, Calie found herself tickled inside at the sight of the character and smiled. She started to get up from her stool, with a mind to get the issue off the rack and read it.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and her grandfather's voice. "That must have been some dream you had, Carlie. I heard you scream all the way back in the history section."

Carlie turned to face him-"Sorry, I must have—and found herself face to face with Klarion. His eyes were ablaze with fiery green power.

"Now, about that tea," he said.

With a scream, Carlie woke up, this time for real. However, instead of her grandfather's bookstore, she was in a beautiful bedroom, like something a princess would retire to for the night. She was dressed in a blue gown, which left all but her most private bits hidden. The rest of her was quite visible through the gown's silky material. Her hair was done up as well, scented and bound into a thick ponytail. She started to move off the bed, its size much too big for one person.

"Sleep well?" said a voice. It sent a chill down Carlie's spine to hear it. She turned and saw Klarion matrialize at the foot of the bed. His appearance out of nothing made it look as if he just arrived in the room, but Carlie just knew he had been there longer watching her sleep. She said nothing. He face was a mixture of fear and contempt. Klarion looked at her and smiled. "Just so you know I wasn't going to leave you as a mermaid forever. I would have left you as one just long enough for you to learn from the mistake you made."

The pompus, know-it-all tone in his voice aggravated Carlie. She got off the left-side of the bed and stormed around it to face Klarion. She was at least a head taller than he was. "Mistake I made? What are you talking about? You're the one who kidnapped me!"

Klarion smiled. "A woman should be able to sense when she is dealing with someone greater than herself and pay him the proper respect. When you turned down my invitation to tea, I was upset at first, but then I realized it was simply your naiveté. It had nothing to do with your feelings toward me."

Carlie was nearly at a loss for words, anger slowly taking over her fear. "I have no feelings toward you! I had never met you before until that day in the bookstore!"

"Ahh, but again, this is where your naiveté plays its role. You see, everything happens for a reason, especially in the matters of the heart. When you turned me down, you moved your destiny off its appropriate path. You upset the right way of the universe, an action that can only lead to ruin. Fortunately, having far more knowledge in cosmic matters than you, I have brought you here now so you may remedy your error."

Carlie could not believe what she was hearing. She gestured at the room around her and her clothes. "So-So, you did all this just so you could have tea with me?"

Klarion laughed. "My dear, Carlie, it's too late for that now. I'm afraid it will take far more than a simple cup of tea to restore your cosmic destiny to its rightful path. If you truly want to save yourself, you must perform an act considerably more significant than the one originally requested of you."

"And that would be?" Carlie said, her hands on her hips.

Klarion smiled widened, "You must become completely devoted to me." He took her chin in his fingers and brought her face down to his. You must become my wife."

Carlie was silent as her mind processed everything Klarion just told her. Then she spoke. "Yes." Klarion raised and eyebrow. "I see it clearly now." Klarion started to smile and prepared to take her in his arms. Then, she punched him right in the face. Klarion staggered back from the pain and put his hand on his nose. He could feel the wetness of the blood coming out of it on his fingers. "You are completely out of your mind!" Klarion looked at her, shocked. "I don't know who you think you are but, super-powered or not, when a woman tells you no, even in the polite way I told you back at the bookstore, it still means no! And as for all that cosmic destiny garbage you just spouted. That's exactly what it is-garbage! And you know what else? You may be able to change my body, change my clothes to whatever you want. But you can never change the one thing you want to change the most: how I feel about you in my heart!

Then, all of a sudden, Klarion looked at Carlie with anger so intense Carlie lost her defiant posture and took a step back. Klarion was about to yell something at her, but he stopped himself. Instead, he forced himself to relax, calmly reached into his jacket and removed a handkerchief from it. He put the handkerchief to his nose to stop the bleeding, which it did immediately. In fact, the handkerchief removed all traces his nose was even bleeding in the first place. It even cleaned the blood from his hands. He looked at Carlie once more. Klarion narrowed his eyes, "I may not be able to change your heart, but I can look into it." Carlie suddenly felt completely naked before Klarion's eyes, despite the clothes she wore. She reflexively put her hands over herself. After a moment. Klarion's eyes went wide. "No. You—You have feeling for him?"

"What are you talking about?" Carlie said.

Klarion snapped his fingers and B'wana Beast appeared behind her on the far side of the bed. She spun to look at him. He was cuffed to an "X"-shaped crucifix, unable to escape it.

"Carlie?" B'wana Beast said when she saw her.

Carle put her hands over her mouth. "B'wana!" she gasped. She took a step towards him, but, before she could go any further a pair of large yellow hands grabbed her from behind and picked her up off her feet. She struggled against their grip, but she might as well been trying to get out of her own body. The hands turned her to face Klarion..

"Well done, Etrigan," Klarion said to the demon whom Klarion had kept invisible until now. Klarion reached out his hand towards B'wana Beast.

B'wana beast's helmet lifted of his head flew over Etrigan and Carle, and landed in Klarion's hand.

Klarion moved the helmet to his side under his arm like a boy might carry a basketball coming home from a game. Then he looked at Etrigan

"Now—his eyes narrowed again—'violate her and beat her within an inch of her life."

Carlie's and B'wana Beast's faces went pale. Carlie looked up at Etrigan and, for the first time, saw the face of the monster that was holding her, but it was nothing compared to the evil she had just seen previously in the eyes of well-dressed boy in front of her.

Etrigan, paused and raised an eyebrow at Klarion.

Klarion glared at Etrigan. "You heard me! Take carnal knowledge of her as only a demon from the pit can." He raised a finger. "But take care not to kill her, Etrigan." He looked right at Carlie. I want her to live with the knowledge she could have changed her destiny if only she had chose the right man." Klarion turned and headed for the doors out of the bedroom.

B'wana Beast looked at Etrigan as Etrigan took a firmer hold on Carlie. The demon turned her around to face him and looked at her hard with his red eyes. There was anger in his face, but also a very small sadness. She almost missed it. Carlie could smell the brimstone on his breath as he brought his face closer to hers. "No, please," she begged."

"Etrigan, what are you doing. You can't possibly—. But B'wana Beast stopped speaking when he saw Klarion look back over his shoulder at him. On the witch-boy's face was a grin worthy of demon. "And you can watch," Klarion said. Then Klarion continued on his way.

"You bastard," B'wana Beast roared. "I'll kill you for this! You hear me? You're dead!" He strained against his bonds like the wild man he appeared to be, but they would not release him.

"Nooooo!" Klarion heard Carlie cry out as Etrigan tore away the gown Klarion had conjured for her and began his terrible task. The word brought Klarion to a stop. It made his whole body tremble and suddenly his vision became blurry like he was looking through someone else's glasses. He immediately used his magic to teleport himself to another room in the place he had created. Finally, in the privacy of the room, he wiped the wetness from his eyes with his right arm's sleeve and told himself the only thing he could. Carlie, the woman he had met at the bookshop, had made her choice. She had no one to blame but herself.

Klarion took a deep breath and turned his mind to his seven female Justice League captives. His plan B.

X X X

Somewhere.

"Ouch, didn't see that one coming," he said as he straightened his hat. He looked nervously around the room for her and concluded, since he could still hear the sound of their air popcorn-popper popping, she was still in the kitchen making them a snack. He pressed the remote to change the TV channel. Klarion's face disappeared from the screen and Superman's face replaced it. "Oh well, what she doesn't know won't hurt me." Then, he settled back to watch more.


	22. A Long Distance Call

"What do you mean Green Lantern just vanished?" Superman said as he touched down on the ground in front of King Draaga. The muscular, stone-gray-skinned monarch paused for a moment before he answered. Although he had seen it many times, he was once again struck by the brightness of Superman's red blue and yellow attire, especially the hero's red and yellow "S"-shield on his chest and his long red cape. King Draaga knew very few warriors in his life who wore colors that made them so visible to their friends and their enemies.

"Exactly that, I'm afraid," King Draaga said. His voice sounded like a stone being scrapped on hard ground. "He had just finished transporting the last of Mongul's mines and then he just disappeared."

"Could it have been one of the mines that did it, some kind of booby-trap?" Superman said.

King Draaga adjusted his camouflage-patterned military uniform and spoke. "Possibly. However, if it was a booby trap, why didn't the micro-computers you had sent to us from your allies, what did you call them again, Motherboxes?" Superman nodded. "Why didn't they detect it first? Mongul is clever, but he's no techno-genius. He tended to bargain for or steal what he needed rather than build it."

Superman thought back to his first encounter with the alien dictator Mongul. It was just over half a decade ago on this very planet. Back then this world was not named Draaga after its heroic new king. It was called War World and King Draaga was simply Draaga, Mongul's best gladiator. "Agreed," Superman said. "Can your people show me Green lantern's last position?"

"Of course," King Draaga said. "It was in the coliseum."

A few minutes later Superman was walking with King Draaga and two the king's demolition-team leaders. They entered the ruins of a massive stone coliseum and into a long arched-hallway. "I'm surprised you haven't knocked over this place," Superman said to King Draaga. "So many of the 'champions' Mongul kidnapped from around the galaxy died here."

King Draaga looked at Superman through his good left eye. His right eye, now a smooth white stone, was lost in this coliseum over a decade ago.

"And many of them at my hand," King Draaga said.

"Sorry, I meant no offense," Superman said.

"I know. Don't worry. It's not something I'm proud of anymore. I hate this place now, perhaps even more than you do. However, I'm a firm believer those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. So it stands yet. Please tell me you've not forgotten our battle here."

"How could I? You, and then later Mongul, gave me quite a beating." Superman said.

"That's only because you held back when you fought us," King Draaga said.

Superman smiled wryly. "I don't know about that. This world used to have so much air pollution its yellow sun could not empower me as well as Earth's does. Sure, I had to spend my fight with Mongul letting him win until the very end, but when you and I went toe to toe before that, it could have been either of us who came out on top."

"You are too modest, my friend," King Draaga said. "I still wear the mark of your victory on my flesh."

Superman remembered the "S" King Draaga had branded on his chest with a piece of discarded metal. He did it to mark, at the time, his dishonor. Draaga saw the discomfort on the Man of Steel's face and let out a small laugh. "It's often disturbing what one does in their naiveté, Superman. Don't tell me your life has been so straight and narrow a little burnt flesh unsettles you?"

Superman smiled wryly again, "Let's just say some things people choose to do to themselves and to others never cease to disturb me." Superman gestured ahead. "Like this."

The four came out into the coliseum's massive circular arena. It was filled with a two-hundred and ninety-four gigantic spiked spheres, black as darkness and just as ominous. They could easily crush a man like a bug if one of them rolled over on top of him.

"To seed this entire world with mines, I still cannot fathom it," King Draaga said. He looked at Superman. "Oh, and my men are sure now. Mongul used the same transporter beam he used to move his gladiators here for their fights to put these mines in the ground without anyone noticing."

"Mongul must have figured if the day came when the people rebelled and he couldn't have this planet, he would see to it no one else would either. Thanks goodness he never got the chance to activate them," Superman said.

"I'm sure he would have if he could have, but fortunately for us he made an error." Superman raised an eyebrow and continued to listen. "As best as my people can figure it, Mongul, certain he was going to win his fixed battle against you all those years ago, left the activator for these mines in a safe in his throne room so it would not be damaged during your fight."

"Well, I did agree to lose," Superman said.

"Lucky for the people here, in the end you did not have too," King Draaga said.

"Excuse me, your highness, but we're here," one of the demolitions team leaders said to King Draaga.

Superman looked at King Draaga. King Draaga gestured for him to go ahead. "Can you show me exactly where he was when you last saw him?" Superman said to the team leader.

The team leader pointed upward into the sky. "He was approximately seven meters directly above where I stand now. He had just returned from the Western half of the planet and dropped off these two mines before disappearing."

Superman looked into the sky above the team leader using a combination of his infrared and microscopic vision abilities. "There's something up there all right, an energy signature of some kind. I'll need to— Suddenly, Superman heard what sounded like an alarm.

"My lord!" shouted one of the men from one of the several demolitions teams moving around the bombs.

"What is it?" King Draaga said.

"We were in the process of disarming the last bomb and the Motherbox we were using starting making a loud pinging noise—like an alarm of some kind. Superman moved with incredible speed. In less than a second he was next to the demolitions team leader who had the upset mother box in hand.

"Let me see it," Superman said holding out his hand. The white cube-shaped sentient micro computer, no bigger than a cell phone, pinged and vibrated in a panic in the team leader's hand.

The team leader looked at Superman, his expression frightened and confused. "It keeps showing me a face in my mind, a horrible evil face, but I've never seen the being before. I don't know who it is!"

"It's all right," Superman said and he took the Motherbox from the team member's hand. The Motherbox immediately projected an image in Superman's mind.

"Great Scott, Darkseid!" He looked around him at the monstrous devices. "These spheres, they're Apocolypse technology!"

"Who? From where?" King Draaga said

"Mongul must have made a deal with Darkseid for these mines," Superman mumbled to himself. Then, all the other Motherboxes on site started pinging and vibrating as wildly as the first. Superman' suddenly saw a countdown in his head.

"Draaga! Get all your people out of the coliseum, now! Superman said.

"But," Draaga started.

"NOW!" Superman said. Then all the bombs around them started to vibrate as they reactivated themselves.

"The stars help us," King Draaga said as he stepped back in shock. He gathered his courage and took his communicator from his belt. "This is King Draaga! All personnel evacuate the coliseum, immediately!" He pressed a button on his communicator and an alarm siren filled the coliseum. King Draaga looked for Superman, but The Man of Steel was already gone. He said a quick prayer for his planet and then ran to help his team leaders with the evacuation.

X X X

Superman, with the Motherbox now stuck on his belt, flew into the sky until he was high enough to see the entire circumference of the massive coliseum. He looked down with his telescopic vision and was relieved to see King Draaga's men nearly all evacuated. A minute later, they were. Then, Superman took a deep breath and started to spin at incredible speed. He turned and turned until he was a blur of primary colors. Still spinning, Superman flew up and then straight down into the ground. The ground shook with the impact. Once in the ground, Superman drilled through planet rock with his nigh-invulnerable body and incredible speed. King Draaga and his men felt tremors in the ground as Superman worked.

After about a minute, there was a sudden quiet, like the eerie silence that precedes an earthquake. Then, King Draaga and his men gasped. The coliseum and the land on which it sat began to rise. It was like an invisible force very slowly pulling them into the sky.

Then, they saw Superman. Superman was flying and, at the same time, lifting the coliseum, the land on which it stood, and the terrible bombs within up, up, and away.

"This—is-heavy!" Superman said through grit teeth. As he moved slowly upward, The Man of Steel tried not to pay attention to his aching muscles or the pieces of earth falling back down to the planet's surface. Instead, he focused on the information Motherbox had shown him. One of the bombs in the coliseum he lifted now was powerful enough to blast a hole to the planet's core and create a fire pit, and if all two-hundred and ninety-four bombs went off simultaneously… Superman pushed upward even harder.

Soon, Superman was so high above the coliseum's original resting place he could see nearby towns. And that's when it started. He suddenly felt a pain in his neck. He looked down for a moment to relieve it, while the rest of his upper-body strained to keep the mass he was carrying in the air. However, the coliseum just kept getting heavier and heavier. He could feel himself start to slow down. His muscles were getting ready to scream with pain.

Superman closed his eyes. He struggled with his mind and body. He tried to convince them they could become master over the weight upon them once again. Meanwhile, his powerful ears brought him the people's voices on the world below. Some called him fool. Other said impossible. He heard all their prayers for salvation and all their whispers about impending doom.

Even Superman's imagination started working against him under the pressure of the coliseum's mighty weight. Darkseid's visage filled his mind, with its fiery red eyes and grim expression. It mocked his decision to carry the coliseum and its deadly contents into space, calling it, not heroism, but foolish arrogance. "Like I said before, Kal-El, super or otherwise, you are still just a man. You will die here, today, with these people, far from your adopted home world of Earth. And afterwards, no one you've helped will care about you or what you've done for them in the past. They will only remember that you failed here today." The visage laughed. "This, Kal-El, is the wonderful fate of all heroes."

Superman was no longer moving upward now. He was only slowing the coliseum's descent.

And then he heard one more voice.

He knew the voice, but it was not someone down on the planet below. It was someone halfway across the galaxy, on Earth. She should be well beyond the range of his magnificent powers. And yet, he heard her.

She was whispering his name as it was all she could manage. Her voice sounded weak and hoarse, like her throat was clogged with something or she was crying. Somehow he could sense she was trapped in the dark, alone, and afraid. Then, for a moment, he could see her as if she was right in front of him. She was scrambled into pieces, trapped in the Earth, like and yet unlike how the mines in the coliseum had been trapped inside King Draaga's planet. Unable to die from her horrible situation, her very spirit was in pain.

It was like artic cold water had suddenly been thrown on Superman's face. His heart seized control of his mind and body as it took in her suffering. It reviled him for not being on Earth when she needed him. And, in that moment, as his heart raged, all of Superman's other problems suddenly became trivial, insignificant, weightless.

Then the bombs exploded.


	23. Lifesigns

"Will you look at that," Green Arrow said as he looked out the Javelin's front window.

"It looks like a mass of dirty-pink candy floss," Batgirl said.

Nightwing frowned slightly. "And, its completely filled Kaznian air space."

"J'onn?" The Batman said.

The Martian examined the readout on the panel in front of him. "The Javelin's sensors detect nothing harmful in the clouds, but of course they are magically generated, so we would be foolish to trust this information completely."

The Batman frowned. "I hate magic."

"Looks like we won't need to worry about it," The Question said and pointed. The rest of the heroes all followed his finger to the view outside the Javelin's main window once more. They all watched as a section of the discolored cloud-mass opened to form a tunnel.

"The hole is large enough for the Javelin to pass through." J"onn said.

"How convenient," Nightwing said.

"We're not just going to fly in there are we?" Batgirl said.

"We've got no choice if we want to get close enough to help our people," The Question said.

"Agreed," The Batman said. "We'll let Klarion make the rules, for now."

"Robin is down there," Starfire said suddenly. All the other heroes aboard the Javelin looked at her.

"Are you sure?" Batgirl said. "I thought you and Batman left Robin on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean with the other Titans."

Starfire closed her eyes for a moment. Then she opened them again. "No, he is down there."

"How do you know?" Nightwing said.

"Well, I am not absolutely certain, but perhaps my knowledge comes from the leftovers of the magic inside me from the spell Raven and Zatanna used to locate Robin the first time in that horrible underground cave?"

Nightwing and Batgirl looked at each other.

"Please, no matter the reason, something is telling me my Robin is down there," Starfire said.

"Can you give us a more precise location, landmarks, anything we might use to find him?" J'onn asked.

Starfire closed her eyes again for a moment and then opened them. Her face fell as she looked at J'onn. "I am sorry, I cannot. I know only that he is down there, somewhere, in all that darkness."

"Can you do anything with that, J'onn?" The Batman said.

J'onn looked at The Batman, then back at Starfire. The Martian looked thoughtful. Finally, he got out of his seat and stood looking down at the female Teen Titan. "Starfire, with your permission, I would like to go into your mind and see if I can strengthen your link to Robin. Then, maybe we can use it to find him more easily."

"My mind?" Starfire squirmed a little in her seat. "Um, alright. You will be careful, won't you?" Starfire said.

"Very careful," J'onn said. After a moment of silence, Starfire finally nodded, closed her eyes, and relaxed. J'onn walked over, kneeled down in front of her seat and put his hands on the sides of her head. He felt Starfire tense, but the warmth of his hands helped her relax again. A moment later, J'onn's eyes began to glow and then his mind entered Starfire's.

Starfire's mind was a pleasant hodgepodge of things Earth and Tamaran. The sky was blue with a yellow sun, but there were pink clouds. A replica of Jump City was below. However, some Tamaran buildings stood amongst its skyscrapers and the whole city sat on purple ground. On an island, in the centre of it all was Titan's Tower. The shiny "T" shaped building had a big cute smile on its front. J'onn willed the smile to open as he approached it and flew inside the tower.

In the next moment, J'onn found himself in a circular room with four doors. One door read 'Cyborg', another 'Beast Boy', another 'Raven', and another 'Robin'. Each of these doors was decorated in a bright and frilly fashion, and had the faces of its corresponding Teen Titan smiling on its surface. Robin's face was surrounded with a bright pink heart.

J'onn reached for the door marked 'Robin', but before he could open it a black shape flew in front of his face and surprised him. Then, another dark shape flew past his eyes, then another, and another and, soon, the room was filled with them. The things fluttered about like confused butterflies. They did not attack J'onn. They simply bumped into him now and again, each one giving him a small chill down his spine when they made contact with his skin. J'onn caught one in his hand and looked at it more closely. It unfolded its wings and J'onn saw it looked exactly like the black bat symbol on The Batman's uniform. "Batman?" he thought. Then he sensed Starfire's fear—fear that The Batman would not accept her love for Robin.

J'onn smiled. "To be young and in love," he thought. J'onn gently pushed the bats away from him and the "Robin" door with a pulse of warmth from his mind. Then, he reached for the door's knob and turned it. Behind the door was warm light that burst forth into the room. A wave of emotion came out with it and washed over J'onn. In the real world, J'onn let out a cute laugh and then a deep sigh escaped his lips. The other heroes outside with J'onn's body raised eyebrows at the little event and looked at one another.

"You okay, J'onn?" Green Arrow said with a small smile.

"I'm fine," J'onn said and he cleared Starfire's feelings from his mind and concentrated on the doorway in front of him. Not wanting to invade Starfire's privacy any further, J'onn used his mind to call inside the doorway. Nothing happened. He tried again. This time a spinning heart, flat and shiny as a new coin, with a faded black raven on one side and Robin's smiling face on the other, came out of the light and floated in front of J'onn's face.

"I've found what we need," J'onn said to the heroes. "Starfire was right, it is the remainder of Raven's spell that is making her sense Robin. However, the spell is almost gone. I'm going to try to strengthen it with my own powers."

Back in Starfire's mind, J'onn placed his hands around the little heart and concentrated. He willed the tiny heart to grow bigger. After a moment, It did start to grow, and, albeit slowly, the black raven on the back turned the same green as J'onn's skin. Next, J'onn fed some of Starfire's feelings for Robin into the heart and it started to glow. When it was finally as big as he, J'onn stopped the heart's growth and sent it back through the "Robin" doorway into the light. J'onn closed the door gently and left Starfire's mind. When she opened her eyes, the two smiled at one another, Starfire shyly, J'onn knowingly.

"There now, you should be able to find Robin now, just by focusing your thoughts on him," J'onn said.

Immediately after hearing this information, Starfire closed her eyes again and concentrated. When she opened them a second after, her smile was huge. "Yes, I can feel him!" she squealed. All the heroes moved slightly in surprise. All except J'onn. The Martian simply rose to his feet.

"Sorry," Starfire said, rubbing the back of her head, but still smiling.

"All right, show's over," The Batman said. "Everyone, buckle-up. We're going in!" Batman guided the Javelin into the tunnel in the dirty pink clouds. The tunnel was just a few meters wider than the Javelin and went down thousands of feet. It became more dirty gray than pink as the craft descended. Finally, the heroes reached the bottom and Batman flew them out into dark-gray open sky.

The earth below was cracked and gray, and occasionally turned purple-pink when lightning flashed. In the distance, atop a mountain, the heroes saw a castle. The structure looked vaguely like a massive black stone hand, with pointed fingers. There was light in some of its towers' windows.

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

Batgirl reached out and grabbed Nightwing's hand. He held it tightly. Starfire screamed. The Batman, Green Arrow, and The Question gasped. Everyone looked at J'onn.

In the co-pilot seat, J'onn was gripping the sides of his head like it was going to explode. His eyes glowed like fire and he reverted from his smoother more human-shaped form—a form he took more often than not so the people of Earth would feel more comfortable around him—to his still humanoid, but sharper featured alien one.

J'onn!" The Batman said. The Question and Green Arrow released their seatbelts and moved quickly to help the Martian.

"SO-BROKEN, YET, CANNOT DIE! AAAAHHHHHHH!"

The Question and Green Arrow tried to put their hands on J'onn to settle him down, but their hands passed right through him. J'onn, screamed once more and then took flight. J'onn phased through the roof of the Javelin and went back up the cloud tunnel as fast as his power of flight could take him. The cloud tunnel sealed itself behind the Martian the second after he entered it.

"What the hell was that?" Green Arrow said looking at The Batman.

"I don't know," The Batman said, not looking at the green-clad archer, instead keeping his eyes on the sky ahead of the javelin.

"I think I do," The Question said. He took the co-pilot's seat and looked more closely at the data readout on the panel in front of it. "It's the ground below. Its make up is thirty percent animal and twenty percent human."

"Corpses?" Nightwing said.

"No, that's just it," The Question said.

"My God," Green Arrow said, also looking at the readout. His voice was almost a whisper.

"The Javelin is reading life-signs from all of them," The Question finished.

The Batman set the Javelin down as carefully as he could, taking care to select a spot as close to the castle as possible, yet where there was almost none of the life-signs The Question discovered. Even so, it was going to be a good hour on foot before they reached the castle. The heroes did a quick equipment check, making sure things like arrows and batarangs were fully stocked on their persons. Then, they lowered the boarding ramp and left the Javelin. When their feet touched ground, purple lightning cracked the sky overhead, filling the air with its light and sound.

"Welcome to the desert of the real," The Question mumbled.

"What was that?" Green Arrow asked.

"Nothing," The Question said.

Starfire screamed. The other heroes looked in her direction. The Tamaranean was stepping back. Her hands were over her mouth and her eyes were wide like they might never close again. Where Starfire had been standing a few footsteps ago, there was a lump on the ground. The Batman walked over to it and saw it was a human head. The head was not intact. Instead it was merged with the ground and looked like a half-melted scoop of flesh and blood ice cream. The head looked at the heroes with its one intact eye, pleading to be saved-one way, or the other. As the heroes took in more of the ground, they saw different parts of people and animals visible on of the surface. Now, the heroes appreciated more deeply why J'onn, the only one of them sensitive to other beings' psychic pain, had cried out and been forced to flee.

"Starfire, which direction is Robin in?" The strength of command in Batman's voice brought everyone, even Starfire, back to their senses.

"Um, right." Starfire did her best to calm herself and, then, closed her eyes. "He is that way," she said after a moment. She was pointing away from the castle. "And I believe he is not hurt like the poor people here."

"Okay, we split up," The Batman said. "Nightwing and Batgirl, you go with Starfire and find Robin. Hopefully, the rest of the Titans are with him. Then, all of you come and join Green Arrow, The Question, and I at the castle as soon as you can. Best case scenario, you'll be our support, worst case our cavalry."

"Right," Nightwing said. Batgirl and Starfire nodded.

A minute later, The Batman, The Question, and Green Arrow watched as Starfire took flight. The orange-skinned teenager had Batgirl on her back and carried Nightwing with her hands under his shoulders, but the extra weight of both did not seem to slow Starfire down at all.

"Strong girl," Green Arrow said, straightening his cap.

"Yes, it seems Robin, like his mentor, has a knack for attracting women able to move a mountain or two," The Question said.

The Batman glared at The Question. The Question looked back at him through his faceless mask.

"All right, gentlemen, let's play nice," Green Arrow said.

"Time to go," The Batman said.

The three heroes started running towards the massive castle. As they did, lightning flashed and sounded over head. Each man offered a silent wish the people they cared about inside the castle's dark walls were all right, and they would get there in time to save them.


	24. Chimera

The Batman, Green Arrow and The Question said nothing during their run to the foot of the mountain, but all three were thinking the same thing—Kaznia was now a living nightmare. It took much of the three heroes' focus to keep their eyes off a country's worth of men, women, and children fused with the ground under their feet crying out for help or death. All The Batman, Green Arrow and The Question could do was hope if they managed to defeat Klarion, these people would somehow be saved.

"Ok, so, how do we get up to the castle?" Green Arrow said when they reached the foot of the mountain.

"We climb," The Batman said. The Dark Knight took his grapple gun from his utility belt and fired it. There was a pop of compressed air just before the gun's grapple and line raced upward into the darkness. There was a small sound as grapple hit rock. The Batman gave the line a tug to make sure it was secure. Then, he pulled The Question to him.

"Hey!" The Question said.

The Batman pushed the button to activate the micro-winch-motor in his grapple gun and he and the surprised Question zipped up the mountainside. Green Arrow fired one of his grapple and line arrows high into the mountainside and, using the micro-winch-motor in his bow, zipped right up after The Batman and The Question.

It took five more grapple gun and grapple arrow shots before the heroes were level with the castle. The castle looked even bigger and menacing than it had when they first saw it from the Javelin. A dark seemingly bottomless gorge separated the cliff on which they stood from the castle's entrance. The heroes could see a drawbridge, but it was raised.

"I'm afraid I left my castle door opener in my other outfit," Green Arrow said. "Any ideas on how were going to get in there?"

"We won't need any," The Question said.

Just then, there was the clinking sound of heavy chain being unwound and the drawbridge started to lower. "Convenient," Green Arrow said.

"He wants us here, remember?" The Question said.

"Let's not disappoint him," The Batman said.

The drawbridge touched-down with a loud thud. A giant portcullis was behind it. The portcullis started to rise and the heroes started moving across the drawbridge. However, the heroes came to a stop almost immediately when they saw three figures standing in the castle entranceway.

As the figures started approaching, The Batman, Green Arrow, and The Question saw two of the figures were not people, but stone sculptures of Etrigan. The stone demon doppelgangers were made from the same dark stone as Klarion's castle and they were twice Etrigan's normal size. The figure between them, however, was Etrigan-yellow skin and all. The only thing different about him was a mark—a glowing red circle with an "M" in the center of his forehead. It was a mark The Batman remembered all too well.

Be careful, Etrigan's under Klarion's control now," The Batman whispered.

"The branding iron, right?" The Question whispered.

"Yes," The Batman whispered. "That also means Jason Blood is around here somewhere aging rapidly. We have to move fast and get the brand from Klarion or Jason's as good as dead."

"This just gets better and better," Green Arrow said.

Etrigan and his stone copies reached the heroes. Etrigan growled. "I've come to escort you to my—he grimaced—'master."

"And if we refuse?" Green Arrow said.

Etrigan's red eyes flared. "The only condition my master expects you in when you are in his presence is 'alive'. This includes 'barely'."

"Let's go," The Batman said.

Etrigan led the heroes toward the castle. The two giant stone demons brought up the rear.

Once inside, The Batman, The Question, and Green Arrow saw more stone copies of Etrigan. The monsters worked together, pushing a multi-handled crank, around and around until the portcullis was down and the drawbridge was up once again. By the time Etrigan had led the heroes deep into the castle, they realized the place was crawling with stone Etrigans.

Suddenly, the stone demons behind the heroes seized The Question and Green Arrow.

"Hey!" the Question said.

"Hand's off!" Green Arrow said.

The Batman spun around just in time to see the stone demons disappear along with The Question and Green Arrow. He spun back to face Etrigan. "Where did they go?" The Batman demanded.

Etrigan said nothing.

The Batman put his face in Etrigan's. "Answer me!"

"I gave them a time out," said a voice.

"Klarion," the Batman said through grit teeth.

Klarion was standing just a little ways ahead of the Batman and Etrigan's position. "Good to see you again too, Batman. Klarion gestured for the Batman to walk with him. "Shall we?"

It took a shove on the back from Etrigan to get The Batman moving.

"What have you done to this country, the people?" The Batman said.

"Come now, Batman, you know as well as I do great kingdoms cannot exist without people to make them, or rather—Klarion chuckled-'make them of."

"They're dying," The Batman said.

"Actually, they're not. The spell I used to make this kingdom of mine keeps them very much alive despite their fractured condition. This way I can increase my powers with their collective life force." Klarion laughed.

"You're insane," The Batman said. He wanted to hit Klarion-hard, but he fought the urge. While hardly an adept in the ways of magic, The Batman was not ignorant of them. He could feel a tingle on the suface of his skin—a tingle he had trained hard to perceive under Zatanna's father, Zatara the Great. It warned The Dark Knight Klarion's magical focus was upon him-that Klarion had only to think of a spell and the Batman would be its target. Besides, even if The Batman could somehow get the advantage on Klarion now, there was still Etrigan under Klarion's control at The Dark Knight's back. No, if The Batman was going to do anything to attack Klarion, the Batman would have to wait for the opportune moment-a time when Klarion was focusing his power on someone or somewhere else.

Klarion sighed. "I suppose you're right, Batman, I am insane, but not in the way you think. You see, I'm in love."

"What?" The Batman snapped.

"Oh, it's not love in the traditional sense. I'm not pining over one woman or anything like that. Rather, I'm in love with the idea of having a woman-my own queen-at my side. I want someone with whom to share my universe, whether they like it or not."

Klarion led The Batman and Etrigan to a stone wall and it opened like a curtain in front of them. Behind it was a flight of stairs into darkness. They started to climb it, and the wall closed behind them. Then, millions of little points of white light started to shine in the room. For the Batman, walking with Klarion and Etrigan on this staircase now was like walking on a staircase suspended in outer space.

"You see, Batman, since my love is not focused on one particular woman, I can use my power to simply choose the one I want and force her to love me. Sure, it won't be exactly the same as love of her own free will, but if you want something, sometimes you have to be willing to make sacrifices," Klarion said.

The Batman said nothing. Meanwhile the staircase he, Etrigan and Klarion were on went, up, down, around like a Chinese Dragon chasing its own tail.

"But, despite all this, I still had a problem. Where would I be able to find a woman worthy of my love? Then, it occurred to me. The Justice League has more than enough incredibly beautiful women to choose from. However, as with all things, when one problem is solved often another arises. I couldn't decide which woman to take," Klarion said.

Some of the points of light in the darkness started to move. They joined with each other and formed constellations of Wonder Woman, Huntress, Black Canary, Vixen, Fire, Hawkgirl, and Zatanna. Klarion gestured with his hand to the constellations. "I had narrowed my list of Justice League women to these seven, but once I had, I just could not reduce my list any further no matter how hard I tried. Each of these women has qualities I just could not do without in my future bride to be. Then, as I pondered this problem, a solution came to me. Ah, here we are."

The darkness in front of Klarion, The Batman, and Etrigan opened like a curtain into a well-lit, circular, red-carpeted room. Klarion gestured for the Batman to enter first. Klarion followed. Etrigan brought up the rear.

"Batman!" Fire said suddenly. The other Justice League women trapped in the room with Fire looked to where the Dark Knight was standing.

While they were strong independent women and heroes in their own right, Fire, Vixen, Black Canary, Huntress and Zatanna could not help but feel a sense of relief when their eyes fell on The Batman.

Shayera was pleased to see The Batman as his presence meant she would likely get free sooner than if left to her own devices. However, this pleased feeling did not mean she felt she would not have been able to free herself given time.

As for Wonder Woman, she was happy to see The Batman, relieved to see The Batman, angry at The Batman, and disappointed and embarrassed at not being able to escape under her own power. This combination of feelings left Wonder Woman with a slightly pained neutral expression on her face.

The Batman said nothing, but his eyes narrowed as he took in the contents of the room. He saw the league women were cuffed by their wrists and ankles to shiny metal "X"-shaped crucifixes.

Suddenly, a force, exactly like the one back on the island where Klarion had first captured him, took hold of The Batman and threw him against the wall. Fire and Zatanna, Black Canary, Vixen, and Huntress gasped at the sudden event. Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl only glared at Klarion and Etrigan who had been revealed when the Batman was suddenly moved.

The Batman ignored the pain on impact with the wall. He strained against the force holding him, but could not get free.

"Hello, ladies, did you miss me?" Klarion said.

"Let me have my crossbow and let's find out," Huntress hissed.

Klarion ignored her. He snapped his fingers and suddenly people appeared on equidistant places on the circular the wall. Batman saw them as did the women. They were Flash, Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, The Question, Green Arrow, and Jason Blood. They looked tired and angry, but no worse for wear, all save Jason Blood who just looked tired. Jason's red hair had begun turning grey, and his face was becoming wrinkled as a result of his separation from Etrigan.

Then, suddenly, the crucifixes moved. They formed a perimeter around Klarion with the women outward, each, Batman noticed, facing their significant other.

"Flash!" Fire said.

"I'm okay, Fire, just a little dizzy," Flash said. Flash tried to vibrate out of the force holding him, but suddenly he felt an incredible sense of vertigo, even closing his eyes did not defeat the feeling. He was forced to stop, and he threw up all over himself. "Dammit," he said.

"Shayera, are you hurt?" Green Lantern said.

"Just my pride, John," Shayera said.

Green Lantern tried to focus to get the green lantern-shaped power ring on his right hand to work. It started to glow, but suddenly sounds of explosions filled his ears. He tried to think around them as sweat trickled down his dark-skinned brow, but the explosions became louder and faster forcing him to stop, lest he pass out from the pain of the sound.

"Jason! What has he done to you?" Zatanna cried. Tears filled her vision.

"Zatanna, I'm so sorry," Jason wheezed softly. "I should have guarded Klarion more carefully. This is all my fault."

"You okay, T?" Vixen said.

"You know me, V. My name says it all. Just hang in there for me, okay?" Mr. Terrific said.

"And you for me," Vixen said.

"Arrow!" Black Canary said.

"Don't worry, Canary," Green Arrow said as he strained against the force holding him. "When we get out of this and get our hands on that punk standing up there, you can have the first punch."

"The only thing I'm worried about is you'll put an arrow through him before I get the chance to hit him," Black Canary said with a strained smile.

Green Arrow smiled back at her best he could.

"Just because I'm back in one piece, Q, doesn't mean you get to bow out of what we talked about back in the medical-wing." Huntress said.

"Wasn't even thinking it," The Question said, and, for the first time ever in his life as a hero, The Question cursed his mask; it hid the brave and reassuring smile he desperately wanted her to give her.

Wonder Woman looked up at The Batman and he looked back at her, but neither of them could find words to say. They simply nodded to one another. They both knew getting out of this situation was more important than anything else right now.

Suddenly, the floor behind the women started to move. It lifted Klarion upward and formed into a high circular platform with an altar-like formation in front of him. From there, Klarion looked down on the heroes as they all talked to each other and struggled against their captivity. He smiled at the futility of their efforts. Then, Klarion looked over at Etrigan, who was standing near the wall between The Batman and The Question, and nodded to the demon. Etrigan stepped forward and took a deep breath.

"SILENCE!" the demon roared.

The room fell quiet as magic-induced fear from the roar trickled down the spines of all the heroes.

"That's better," Klarion said. "I could barely hear myself think with all your back and forth. The reason you heroes are here is to help me find love, not so you can dwell in your pathetic overcomplicated relationships. Besides, don't you people know relationships with people at work never succeed? I mean, look at you now. You're all about to meet your end in one form or another very shortly. Maybe if each of you, wll the men anyway, had fallen for someone a little less super-heroic, you might not be here with me now. Yes, it's true what they say boys: never dip you pen in the company ink. It only leads to disaster."

Green Arrow tried to speak, but the magical fear still in his body kept him silent. Meanwhile, the women strained to turn their heads enough to see what was going on above and behind them.

"Now, without further ado, it's time to for me to meet my bride. Etrigan?"

Everyone watched as Etrigan reached into the wall at his back as if it was made of jelly. He withdrew something from inside it. He tossed the item to Klarion who caught it at his place on the high platform."

"I'm sure you recognize this, Justice Leaguers. It is B'wana Beast's helmet. Legend has it there is another helmet out there that looks much like this one, but with somewhat different powers. However, through my power I have learned this is not true. There is no second helmet. The different powers the legends speak of are, instead, in this helmet. They simply need to be unlocked." Klarion put his other hand on B'wana Beast's helmet. "Vanamir-Morlecon-Nekree!" Klarion said. The helmet glowed green under the effect of Klarion's magic. When the glow ended a few seconds later, the helmet had changed from red to half red and half blue. Satisfied, Klarion put the helmet on over his head.

Flash snickered. He had always thought the helmet looked rather foolish on B'wana Beast, like some kind of space toy for kids. Especially since it clashed with the rest of B'wana Beast's outfit, which looked like something Mowgli from The Jungle Book would wear. However, now, on Klarion, who was dressed in a tuxedo, the helmet looked even sillier.

"Laugh all you want, Flash," Klarion said. Klarion's comment surprised The Flash into silence as he thought Klarion did not hear him. Then. Klarion smiled. "Laughter will be the furthest thing from your mind after you see—THIS!"

Klarion concentrated and the helmet he wore began to glow again, but this time with red and blue light. The glow grew brighter and brighter as if the helmet were super-heating. Then suddenly, the energy in the helmet lashed out and struck the seven Justice League women.

The women cried out as the wild energy struck and filled their bodies with energy until they felt like they were going to explode. Meanwhile, the Justice League men, enraged, tried once again to break free of the invisible force holding them.

In the end, all the men could do was watch Klarion as he used the helmet's energy to break Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Vixen, Black Canary, Zatanna, Fire and Huntress down into millions of tiny perfect spheres of light. The spheres, made up of every color of the rainbow, flew between Klarion's open palms and gathered there above his head in a ball. The women's uniforms were left behind and fell to the ground in separate heaps at the feet of the crucifixes.

Klarion smiled at the ball of spheres as it floated in the air above him. He willed it to spin around rapidly, mixing the spheres of light together. Then, as they spun, Klarion chanted under his breath until the colors came together into a heart of beautiful white light.

Next, Klarion lowered the heart so it was in front of him. He took a knife from his pocket and cut off the pinky finger on his left hand with it. Only a bit of pain registered on his face. He dropped the severed finger into the heart. The heart turned gray.

Then, Klarion willed the heart to float down onto the altar-like platform in front of him. There, he reshaped it until finally the heart's gray light faded and its new form was complete.

The new form was that of a sleeping woman. Her hair was long and blackr in color. Her skin looked as new and as soft as a baby's.

Klarion smiled warmly at her as she slept. He reached inside his tuxedo jacket and removed the iron brand of Morgan Le Fay from it. He pressed the brand gently but firmly against her forehead. The head of the brand glowed as it touched her skin. The woman moved only a little as the magical artifact did its work. When Klarion withdrew the brand, the red mark of an "M" in a circle was clearly visible on her forehead. Too bad the brand's symbol is not shaped like a "K", Klarion thought as he put the brand back in his jacket.

"Darling, wake-up," Klarion said as he removed the helmet from his head and put it under his arm.

Slowly the woman awoke and sat up on the altar-like platform. She yawned and stretched her nude body and the silver-feathered wings on her back. She looked around. She saw seven costumed men held to the wall below her by unseen means. All of the men had their mouths open in shock. She also saw a scowling demon standing near them. The yellow skinned monster looked like he was waiting for something. When she made eye contact with him, his eyes widened and his mouth opened in surprise, but only for a moment. The demon quickly dismissed the feeling and returned to his scowl.

Then the woman turned and saw the face of the man closest to her. She regarded him. He looked like he had become a man just recently; there was still a strong presence of youth in his face.

"My Queen, from this day forward, your name will be…" Klarion put the space between his thumb and index finger on his right hand under his chin and thought for a moment. Suddenly, his face brightened, and he smiled at her. "Chimera."

Chimera's eyes smiled at the sound of her name. A warm tingly feeling ran though her whole body. She seized Klarion, lifted his face up to hers and kissed him passionately on the lips. When she stopped, Klarion was left feeling both surprised and blissfully flustered. He hung in her arms like a rag doll, with an askew smile on his face.

Chimera smiled, "Of course, my King. Whatever you wish."


	25. Distractions

"I really do not like this place," Starfire said. "It is so dark I am amazed I can see the ground." She flew with Nightwing and Batgirl hanging on to her, and she on to them. "Why has this Klarion gone and twisted the land in this way?"

"Some people are just sick, Starfire. They need to let their sickness spill over into the lives of others to make them feel better about themselves."

"I just hope between all the heroes that are here, we can turn this around somehow," Batgirl said. "I'd hate to see the whole world end up like this."

"Me too," Nightwing said.

"How much farther to Robin, Starfire?" Batgirl said.

"We are getting closer, but I am unable to give an exact distance. Oh, I do hope my Robin is OK, and my other friends as well," Starfire said. Then, suddenly, Starfire stopped, forcing Nightwing and Batgirl to grip her even tighter lest they fall. "Robin, he is below us!" Starfire said with a smile and started to descend rapidly.

"Whoa!" Batgirl and Nightwing said simultaneously.

Starfire came to her senses, and slowed her descent. When she got close to the ground, she let Nightwing and Batgirl down first and then touched down herself. Starfire cheeks were a bit red and she rubbed the back of her neck. "I am sorry, my friends. I did not me to startle you."

"It's all right, Starfire. We know how you feel about Robin, and we want to get to Robin too, but you shouldn't let it distract you so much." Nightwing said.

"Yes, you are right." Starfire said sheepishly.

The heroes looked around. Large rock formations surrounded them, each one as big as a house or bigger.

Batgirl removed a pair of binoculars from her utility belt and looked in the direction of Klarion's dark castle. "We're about ten kilometers from the castle," Batgirl said. She put the binoculars back in her belt and took a step forward. There was a scream, but it was not a human one, and Batgirl stumbled back into Nightwing who caught her. She looked at the ground and saw she had stepped on the half trapped body of a cat. It was melded with the ground and clearly suffering.

"God," Batgirl said.

"No!" Starfire said. "This Klarion is truly evil." Starfire rushed to the animal's side and knelt beside it. I will free you, furry friend!" Starfire said. Her hand started to glow green with starbolt energy.

"Nightwing put a hand on her shoulder, "Starfire, no, wait. Remember, the cat's merged with the ground by magic. You're better off to leave it where it is until we can somehow reverse what Klarion has done."

Starfire looked up at Nightwing, "But it is suffering!"

"So are a lot of animals-and people. I'm sorry, but unless you're planning to kill it, you're better off leaving it where it is."

Starfire looked down at the cat and then lowered her fist, the green energy in it dimming as she did so. She let her shoulders fall with the helplessness she felt and then decided to reach down and stroke the cat-to offer it some comfort, but it shrieked before her fingers reached it. Starfire drew her hand back as if she'd been bitten. The cat's reaction made her feel even worse than before. It saddened her to realize the cat was too scared and too much in pain to accept even a small act of kindness from her.

"Starfire, focus on Robin again," Batgirl said.

Starfire stood up, closed her eyes, and put her mind back on the mission. "He is here. He is very close, but I cannot tell exactly where." Starfire cupped her hands around her mouth. "Robin! Robin! Where are you?"

Nightwing moved quickly behind Starfire and put his hand over her mouth. "Let's try something that draws a little less attention." He let her go.

"Yes, of course, Nightwing. Again I am sorry. But how do you suggest we locate Robin?" Starfire said.

"I'm still getting nothing but static from my communicator," Nightwing said.

"Hey, these formations are pretty big," Batgirl said as she put her hand on one of them. "You don't suppose—

"We should try an ultrasound scan?" Nightwing finished.

"Exactly," Batgirl said and then both he and Batgirl removed the exact same device from compartments on their utility belts. After pushing a few buttons on them, they started using the devices to scan the surrounding rock formations. To Starfire, the devices looked like the hand-held video game Beast Boy sometimes played in the Titan's Tower rec-room.

"What do those machines do?" Starfire said.

"They'll tell us if any of these big rock formations around us are hollow," Batgirl said.

"It is possible my Robin could be inside one of them?" Starfire said.

"That's the idea," Nightwing said.

Batgirl moved over beside Nightwing. "I just hope he's not in the rock the same way that cat is in the ground," she whispered to him so Starfire could not hear.

"Me too," whispered Nightwing, and he glanced over to Starfire who was now walking away from them. "I'm not sure how she'd react if she saw him that way, caring for him as much as she does."

"Is that a bad thing—caring about him like she does?" Batgirl said, without looking up from her ultrasonic scanner's display.

Nightwing did not say anything at first, which made Batgirl think he did not wish to enter into the topic, but after a few moments he said. "A relationship is a double-edged sword when you're a costumed hero. It can make you stronger, but at the same time make you vulnerable. It can make you happy, but at the same time drive you crazy. It can give you incredible focus and it can distract you terribly. It may even make you want to hang up your costume altogether. I mean, let's face it, every time you or your lover walk—or fly—or teleport—or whatever-out the door to fight crime or save the world, there is a very good chance of either of you or both of you getting killed. It might be some super-villain who knocks you off, or just some punk who gets lucky."

"So, it is a bad thing then. It's better to remain unattached or, at the very least, have relationships that go nowhere," Batgirl said.

Nightwing looked from his display to Batgirl. "I didn't say that. I'm just saying you both have to be strong enough to accept the truth that each day together may be your last."

"People who are married to cops, firefighters and people in countless other dangerous jobs face the same problem," Batgirl said. And, it's not just those people, I mean, your average person could be walking down a alley one night and bang. That doesn't mean you shouldn't-"

"Nightwing, Batgirl, look!" Starfire said.

Nightwing and Batgirl looked in Starfire's direction. She was carrying a cat. It was not the trapped cat she found earlier. Instead it was a brown cat with a white underside and yellow eyes.

"Where did you find him?" Nightwing said.

"He was wandering around lost over there," Starfire pointed. Oh, it brings hope to my heart to know Klarion's magic has not affected everything here. Starfire brought the cat's nose close to her own. "You are okay, are you not, my new friend?"

"Hey, I think I've got something," Nightwing said. This rock formation is—

Batgirl suddenly felt a cold chil of realization, "Starfire, No! That cat, it's—

The cat hissed.

Starfire screamed.

Batgirl and Nightwing looked over and saw Starfire with her hands on her face.

Starfire fell to her knees, sobbing in pain. The sensation of her own blood running through her fingers only heightened her suffering.

"Dammit," Nightwing said.

The cat had landed on its feet-its back two. Nightwing and Batgirl watched in horror as the cat finished morphing from a cat to a catwoman. It was a swift, but disturbing process—like watching a human skeleton suddenly stretch out inside a cat. In this new wereform, the creature growled like a jungle cat and launched itself at Batgirl.

Batgirl survivor's reflexes were stronger than her fear. She fell to the ground and managed to get her feet under the incoming monster. She used the werecat's momentum and her own strength to launch it over and past her. The werecat landed some distance away, again on its feet and came rushing back at her.

Nightwing, over his own initial surprise, moved swiftly between Batgirl, who was already on her feet again, and the charging werecat. Batgirl leapt up onto and off Nightwing's shoulders at the creature, where she whipped her leg around and delivered a spinning roundhouse kick to the monster's face.

The werecat stumbled back from the blow it had mistakenly expected to come from Nightwing.

Batgirl rushed in and followed up with two cross punches. The first punch hit the werecat smack on the jaw, but the monster caught the second and used Batgirl's momentum to whirl her around by the arm, and then let the red-haired crime-fighter go. Batgirl flew through the air for an instant and then slammed into one the big rock formations nearby.

Nightwing whipped a couple of his larger than normal shuriken, or "wingdings" as Batgirl had nicknamed them, at the werecat, but the creature leapt up and over both of them. The werecat came down towards Nightwing and reached out with her clawed hands to rip off his face, but he caught her wrists, brought her over his head and slammed her back-first to the ground.

The werecat pulled her wrists free, rolled over on her stomach, got to her feet, and came at Nightwing again. Nightwing threw a punch at the monster's face, but the werecat ducked low under the punch and slashed Nightwing hard across his midsection with her claws. Her claws found flesh, but not as much as she had wanted. The reinforced material of Nightwing's costume kept his midsection from being ripped open and his guts from spilling out onto the cold dark ground.

As Nightwing staggered back, Batgirl, who had gotten to her feet again, ignored the pain her body was registering and ran at the werecat. The werecat lashed out with the claws on its right hand, aiming to take Batgirl's head off in one swipe, but Batgirl dropped down under the attack, came at the werecat's legs feet first like a baseball player sliding into home plate. She caught the werecat's legs in a scissor lock and twisted her body to the left. The werecat lost its balance and fell to the ground front first. Batgirl was on the werecat's back in an instant. She placed one hand on the creature's left shoulder and raised her right hand to deal a sharp blow to the back of the monster's neck, but the werecat managed to buck her off using its superior strength before she could land the attack.

Batgirl managed to hit the ground, and roll back up onto her feet. She moved in beside Nightwing who was holding his bleeding stomach with one hand. You okay?" she said.

"I'll live," Nightwing said.

"This is Klarion's familiar, Teek'l," Batgirl said.

"Yeah, we should have recognized her sooner," Nightwing grunted.

"She's strong-Batgirl said as she threw one of her batarangs at Teek'l, but the werecat backhanded it away and it hit somewhere way off target—'and real fast."

"We've got to get to Starfire. We don't know how bad she's hurt," Batgirl said.

"But we've got to take Teek'l out first. Here she comes again," Nightwing said.

Teek'l roared and leapt at the two heroes. They stepped apart and she landed between them. Teek'l was close enough to both heroes to throw out a clawed hand at each one of them. Nightwing and Batgirl both blocked her blows—their gauntlets protecting them from her claws, but they were unprepared when Teek'l dropped down swiftly and did a circular sweep that took the crimefighters' feet out from under them.

Teek'l leapt onto Nightwing. He managed to grab her wrists again, but the werecat expected this and slammed her forehead into Nightwing's face. When she felt the hero's grip on her wrists loosen from the shock of her head butt, Teek'l drove her fists into his gut to force the air out of him and at the same time kicked her legs straight back at the incoming Batgirl, knocking the wind out of female caped crusader as well.

Batgirl doubled over and staggered backward. She could only watch the ground and worry about Nightwing as Teek'l sprung backward off Nightwing onto her feet, spun around, and delivered a fierce roundhouse kick to the side of Batgirl's head. The kick caused blood and a tooth to fly out of Batgirl's mouth and sent her sprawling to the ground.

Then Teek'l spun around to reengage Nightwing who was coughing as he tried to get back on his feet, but before she could attack, a green blast of energy knocked her sideways.

Teek'l landed on all fours a short distance from her previous position and, while wincing in pain from the energy blast, looked at her new attacker. Nightwing, still coughing but upright, and Batgirl, getting to her feet slowly, her own blood running down her chin, followed the familiar's gaze.

Starfire stood several feet away, her hands in fists at her sides glowing with green power.

"No," Batgirl gasped. Nightwing grit his teeth. From where they stood, Nightwing and Batgirl could see only Starfire's right eye—like her fists-glowing with green light. Her left eye, which she had just cauterized with her starbolt energy to keep from bleeding, was an unsighlty mess of scratch lines, cooked flesh, and blood.

"Bad kitty," Starfire said to Teek'l.

Teek'l smiled at the challenge and bolted toward Starfire as the orange-skinned Teen Titan let loose a powerful volley of her green starbolts. Teek'l was not impressed. She dove into the starbot volley-twisting and turning to dodge the energy blasts as they came at her. Starfire, amazed at Teek'l's agility, started taking steps backwards to maintain the distance between her and the werecat, and let loose another volley of starbolts from her fists, but the werecat kept on coming, avoiding these new starbolts as well.

When Teek'l was almost on top of her, Starfire took to the air, but the werecat managed to get a hold of the Tamaranean's ankle and slammed her back-first onto the ground. Teek'l pounced on top of Starfire and was about to rip into the Teen Ttitan with her claws, when a weighted-line wrapped around Teek'ls right leg.

Nightwing, on the other end of the line, pulled hard. Teek'l tried to dig her claws into Starfire's chest to prevent being pulled off her, but she only managed to get them through and shred Starfire's purple costume top before Teek'l flew leg-first off Starfire and landed face down in the dirt close to one of the rock formations.

Starfire started to get up.

"Starfire, me o tojite!" Batgirl shouted.

In a nearly fluid motion, the werecat rolled over and cut the line with one swipe of her claws then lied down and then whipped herself back up onto her feet. She got her bearings just in time to see another batarang coming at her. She slapped this batarang away like she had the first one—or would have if this one had not detonated on impact with her hand. A magnesium flash filled the air. Teek'l cried out in pain and anger-surprise, and the familiar brought its hands to its eyes.

Nightwing, watching Teek'l suffer through the protective lenses in his mask, charged. He covered the distance between himself and the werecat quickly and, with all his strength, drove his shoulder into Teek'l, lifted her off the ground on it, and slammed her into the rock formation his line-pull earlier had landed her near. To the unprepared off-balance werecat, Nightwing's hit was like being hit by a football teams' entire defensive line. Immediately after his attack, Nightwing stepped back and dove to the right. Meanwhile, Teek'l staggered forward like she was drunk-and right into a massive blast of energy from the combined power in both of Starfire's fists. The force of the blast sent Teek'l backward through the rock formation's face and—to Stafire's surprise—into the formation's hollow interior. Teek'l flew for a few feet, with pieces of the rock she had broken through, and then landed on the ground, bounced once, and then laid there unconscious, where, after a moment, she reverted back to her original brown cat form.

As the dust from the blast cleared, Nightwing poked his head inside the hole Starfire had made to see if Teek'l was down.

"We'll look who the cat dragged in," Beast Boy said when he saw Nightwing's face.

X X X

"Wow," Klarion exhaled as Chimera slowly removed her lips from his. Meanwhile, B'wana Beast's helmet, which Klarion had dropped while Chimera kissed him, rolled and fell off the raised platform on which Klarion and Chimerastood. It hit the floor below, rolled some more, and came to a stop just a few feet from The Batman.

Klarion smiled sheepishly at Chimera. "Now, if you could put me down now, my love, I'd like to have a final word with our guests."

"Of course, baby," Chimera said and she set Klarion, who was more than a head shorter than she was, on his feet.

The Question gritted his teeth. The Batman's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, and I need you to do something for me," Klarion said and he gestured for Chimera to lower her ear to him and he whispered something to her.

"Yes, of course, my love," Chimera said.

"Oh, and here." Klarion snapped his fingers and Chimera's nude form was suddenly covered in a blue gown, which left all but her most private bits hidden. The rest of her was quite visible through the gown's extremely transparent material. Her silver hair was done up as well, bound into a thick ponytail. Then Klarion raised his hand and opened a section of the castle roof with his magic. Chimera spread her wings, leapt into the air, and took off through the opening. It sealed back up once she did. Then, Klarion turned to face the Justice League men he held captive on the walls of the round stone room in which he stood.

"When I get my hands on you, you aren't going to have head to put a helmet on!" Green Lantern roared.

"What he said," The Flash shouted.

All the heroes struggled once more against the magical force holding them, save Jason Blood and The Batman. The former was too weak with age now to fight anymore. The latter knew the action was a waste of energy. Klarion raised an eyebrow and the force holding Green Lantern and The Flash became so strong the two heroes could not even move their mouths to speak.

Klarion dispelled the platform on which he was standing. The platform became like liquid and melted slowly downward as Klarion's magic went out of it. It lowered him down and became part of the red-carpeted floor once more.

Klarion walked over to Jason Blood first. "My, Uncle Jason, you're looking more wrinkled than any prune could hope to be. And, I bet your heart is just as wrinkled now. How long do you think you have? Maybe another twenty minutes, one minute for every liver spot?" Klarion laughed.

Jason grimaced tried to say something, but all that came out of his wrinkled face was a wheeze that would have had trouble making a candle flicker.

Klarion patted Jason Blood on the cheek twice, the third time Klarion slapped him hard. Jason wheezed in pain as his brittle jaw broke. "It's been fun Uncle Jason. Rest in Peace knowing that I'll be taking good care of Etrigan and, albeit in a different form now, Zatanna will be taking good care of me."

Tears rolled down Jason's cheeks.

Next, Klarion walked over to The Batman. Klarion bent down and picked up B'wana Beast's helmet from the floor and put it under his left arm. "And as for you, Dark Knight, not so lucky now are you? No Uncle Jason or Etrigan to save you at the last minute this time, is there? Not even your little Robin can help you."

"At least no one can call me a liar when I die," The Batman said.

"I beg your pardon?" Klarion said.

"While we climbed those castle stairs of yours, you said you weren't fixated on one woman, but you lied. I recognize Chimera's face. It's Carlie Greene's face, the girl you turned into a mermaid and left in the ocean, the girl who turned you down flat."

"What, of course not. I didn't- He thought back to Chimera's face. The Batman was right. Why hadn't he noticed it before. "It's no more than a coincidence," Klarion said.

The Batman smiled mockingly back at Klarion. "You have all that power, but all you can do with it is make a magical Carlie-clone because you aren't man enough for the real Carlie to even have a cup of tea with you."

"Silence!" Klarion spat.

"You may have gotten older and look more like a man now, Klarion, but inside you're still that poor little witch boy you were when I first met you. Maybe instead of joking about conjuring a flock of woodpeckers to attack me that night, you should have tried conjuring a pecker for yourself."

Klarion's eyes went wide at the Batman's last words. Then, his eyes narrowed and his expression changed to one befitting the devil horns his hair was styled to have. He raised his right hand up and it and his eyes crackled with green energy. "You die now," Klarion hissed.

Then, the Batman exploded.

X X X

Somewhere else….

"Well, shoot my monkey," he said, his mouth full of popcorn.

"Was that supposed to happen?" she said looking at him pointing at the TV, her other hand full of popcorn from the bowl in her lap.

He laughed nervously and then held up his hand in a reassuring gesture. "Oh, yeah, of course it was. Have I given you any reason to doubt me?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Recently," he said.

She rolled her eyes again.

"Fine, be that way," he said. "It'll all work out. You'll see. You'll get exactly what you wanted and so will I." He took another handful of popcorn from her bowl and shoved it in his mouth.


	26. Smoke and Monsters

Nightwing stepped inside the hole Starfire's blast created. Immediately, Cyborg turned his shoulder light on Nightwing. Hi guys," Nightwing said, shielding his eyes with his hand.

"Oh, it's you! Heh, sorry, I forgot you bat-folk like the dark," Cyborg said and lowered his light's intensity.

"Robin?" Nightwing said.

"I'm here, Nightwing." The Boy-Wonder continued to speak as Nightwing moved towards him. "All the Titans are here except Starfire." Robin gestured with his head to a section of wall, "The Queen of Kaznia is with us as well."

Nightwing looked over at Queen Audrey. She smiled at him, relieved to see another hero on her and the Teen Titans unfortunate scene. He nodded to her. "Well have you out of here as soon as possible, your majesty," Nightwing said.

"I look forward to it," Audrey said with a tired smile.

"Did you use ultrasound to find us?" Robin said.

"Yeah," Nightwing said. He looked around at the other Titans and then at Robin. "What is this stuff you're trapped in? It looks like stuff I used to stick to the underside of my desk in high school."

"We don't know, but it's probably a magic-based or magic reinforced material." Robin said. "So far, none of us have been able to break it. It prevents Cyborg from accessing his weapon and most of his utility systems, and it keeps Raven and Beast Boy from using their powers. I can't reach my belt, so I haven't tried anything in it. I've tried the mini-laser and blades in my gloves, but they don't even scratch-

"Aw no, Star," Cyborg said. Robin stopped talking to Nightwing and he looked to see what had caused such a reaction from his teammate. The minute he saw it, his voice got lost in his throat.

"What happened, Star?" Beast Boy said looking at her destroyed eye.

"I am ashamed to say I was rather foolish and that magical creature—she gestured towards Teek'l unconscious form—'managed to wound me." She risked a glance at Robin whose pained look almost made her choke up. She quickly looked away from him and back at Beast Boy. "But we cannot worry about me now. We must hurry and rejoin The Batman so we can give him the back-up".

"Star," Robin said under his breath.

"Save it," Nightwing whispered to him. "She's playing it tough. You do the same, or she'll fall apart." Robin shot Nightwing an glare look, but it was no match Nightwing's cool stare. Finally, Robin looked at the ground and reluctantly let his anger flow out of his face. He looked back up at Nightwing and nodded. Nightwing was right. It was time to lead, not lament. When this was over, he would see everything that could be done for Starfire's eyes would be done. He just thanked god she was still alive.

"Starfire's right," Robin said. "If Batman is here, we can't let him down. Nightwing, I have a chryodisc left in my belt. Maybe we can use the fermionic gas in it to freeze this stuff holding us and then break it."

"I have a couple of chryodiscs too," Nightwing said.

"Me too, when you need them" Batgirl said.

Nightwing smiled at her. "Okay." He looked back at Robin. "But, if it's all right with you, I think we should free Raven first. We've already tangled with one magical being today. I'd like to have the only magic user here free first if another a magical baddie decided to drop by. Speaking of which, Batgirl, how about putting a leash on Teek'l back there?"

"Already done," Batgirl said. "I tied her up and put some tranquilizer in her too. She'll be out for hours."

"If she was a common housecat," Raven said. "When a monster is magical, you can never be sure how long science will contain it."

Nightwing shook his head. "Not like we didn't have enough unknowns on this trip already. Let's get to work. Robin, I need your cape,"

"Take it," Robin said.

Nightwing removed Robin's cape from Robin's uniform and a chryodisc from his own belt. Then, he walked over to Raven.

"Hi," Raven said in her raspy voice as Nightwing walked over and kneeled down in front of her.

"Hi," Nightwing said. He pulled a special diamond bladed knife from his belt and started slicing Robin's cape into three pieces.

"What are you going to do with those?" Raven said.

"This material is dense. I'm going to use it to cover your hands and face. Combined with your hooded cape and uniform, it should keep the fermionic gas off your skin if I make a mistake. I'm going to be very careful to see that I don't make one, but better safe than sorry."

"Yeah," Raven said looking a little apprehensive.

Meanwhile, Batgirl moved over beside Starfire. "Are you sure there is nothing I can do for you?" Batgirl whispered to her.

"There is one thing," Starfire said. I have a question. Why did you speak to me in Japanese when you threw the blinding weapon at Teek'l?"

Batgirl's shoulders fell. She was expecting Starfire to finally let her see if she could do anything for her eye. In the next moment, Batgirl decided to respect Starfire's choice to endure the eye wound for now and straightened up. "Robin told me about the Titans' trip to Tokyo and your battle with Brushogun. He told me you learned Japanese there. He also told me how." Starfire put a hand on the back of her neck and blushed. "Anyway, just before I threw my magnesium batarang, I remembered you spoke Japanese and decided to warn you in that language rather than risk calling my warning out in English and having Teek'l understand and, consequently, close her eyes too."

"How did you know Teek'l did not speak Japanese as well?" Starfire said.

"I didn't, but I figured, since I hadn't heard Klarion speak it, my odds were pretty good." Batgirl said.

"How did you learn Japanese?" Starfire said.

"I studied, or, rather, I still am. It's part of Batman's training for us," Batgirl said.

"Gambatte, ne." Starfire said.

"Gambaruyo," Batgirl replied.

Nightwing finished reworking one of his chryodiscs so it worked as a narrow sprayer, not a grenade. Then he wrapped up Raven's head and hands with the pieces of Robin's cape. When Nightwing had finished, Cyborg saw Beast Boy stretching to reach one of his uniform pockets. First, he tried to reach it with his hands, then with his mouth, but both attempts met with no success.

"What are you doing?" Cyborg said.

"If only I could reach my camera," Beast Boy said. "She looks like a triple-headed lollipop."

Cyborg rolled his eyes.

"Can you still breathe, Raven?" Nightwing said.

Raven nodded her wrapped head.

"Okay, when I say now, hold your breath," Nightwing said.

Raven nodded again.

"Okay, now," Nightwing said.

Raven took a breath and held it. And, immediately afterward, Nightwing started carefully spraying the fermionic gas on the hardened material holding Raven. Even through all her wrapping, Raven could feel a bit of a chill.

"Done." Nightwing said and, after quickly setting the reworked chryodisk down, he took the wrapping off Raven's head as she gasped for air. "Now, let's hope this breaks," Nightwing said and he struck the material over Raven's hands hard with his palm.

Some of the ice came off, but it didn't break.

"Starfire, come over here and try to break this," Nightwing said.

Starfire came over and pulled on the frozen material with all her formidable strength, but it would not break.

"Dammit, the cold didn't penetrate it," Nightwing said.

"It was a good plan," Batgirl said. She put a hand on Nightwing's shoulder.

"Anyone got another?" Cyborg said. There was a silence, as everyone in the cave fell into despair-laced thought.

Nightwing sighed, "It looks like we've got no other choice. Let's have it, Starfire." Everyone looked either at Nightwing or Starfire. Starfire looked surprised, Nightwing expectant.

"But how did you—Starfire began.

"Remember the gondolier's hat you were wearing when you approached the Javelin?" Nightwing said.

Starfire but her hand on the back of her neck. The Batman gave it to me. He told me to wear it. Now, I understand why. However, The Batman gave me strict instructions not to use them unless it was a life or death emergency. I will not betray his instructions."

"It's already an emergency, Starfire. We're supposed to be the back-up for a man who almost never asks for back-up, and we're late."

Starfire looked at Nightwing. He looked back at her. Everyone else, save Robin who had realized what Starfire and Nightwing were talking about, waited in confused silence for Starfire to make a decision. "I understand," Starfire said finally. She looked down and reached for the hem of her skirt. She lifted it up and removed a pair of small devices, from a pocket strapped to her thigh. She handed them to Nightwing. He smiled and threw one to the ground. It exploded.

X X X

Klarion went wide-eyed as a cloud of white smoke and tiny sparkling metal strips raced toward and, in the next moment, covered him. Etrigan managed to bring his torn cape up in front of his face just before the cloud reached him. Green Lantern, The Flash, Mr. Terrific, The Question, Green Arrow, and Jason Blood, could only watch as the cloud grew bigger and threatened to take over all of the circular red-carpeted room.

Inside the cloud, Klarion cursed in both surprise and anger. He started to cough as the smoke entered his lungs. This surprised him further as it meant his self-protection spells were failing. Then, suddenly, panic gripped him; he could feel his spells holding his heroic captives slipping. Klarion tried to maintain the spells, but the connection between his will and his magic had become as scattered as the tiny metal strips in the thick cloud of smoke around him were.

"No!" Klarion screamed. Then, suddenly, Klarion felt a fist smash against his face. Dazed, Klarion flew backward from the force of the blow. It took all of Klarion's will to keep his grip on B'wana Beast's Helmet and his consciousness. Klarion hit the ground some distance from his original position. Where Klarion had landed, the smoke was less thick, but its effect on his magic powers was no less than it had been when it first touched him. Through double-vision, he saw the thin metal strips from the cloud, no bigger than a half a human finger each, all over him like shiny leeches. He brought his hand to his aching face and felt the blood flowing from his broken nose. He concentrated and tried to cast a spell to take himself away from here, to his house back in Gotham, but the magic inside him would not obey. All he managed was a few faint crackles of green energy between his fingers, a far cry from the teleportation spell he was trying to cast.

Then, suddenly, all of Klarion's attention was stolen and refocused on a dark shape emerging from the thickness of the smoke cloud. As a practitioner of dark magic, Klarion had seen many horrible, terrifying, things, but he had always been able to bend these unspeakable horrors to his will. It was this control over things, things sometimes more powerful and sinister than he, which had helped make him so arrogant at such a young age. And, when his powers suddenly grew exponentially while he was Jason Blood's prisoner, this arrogance blurred his common sense and told him it was simply his own powers maturing. But now, with his amazing power unable to come to him in any useful form, the dark shape in front of him, albeit as human as he, was the most terrifying thing Klarion had ever seen.

"Give me the helmet!" the dark thing growled to Klarion as the thing's shadow start to creep over him.

"E-Etrigan, protect me!" Klarion cried.

In an instant, the yellow-skinned demon leapt out of the thickness of the smoke and landed between the dark thing and Klarion. Like Klarion, Etrigan was covered in tiny metal strips from the smoke cloud and could no longer command his own magical powers, but his brute strength would be more than enough to protect his master. The demon's eyes narrowed and he growled at the advancing dark thing. But, Etrigan's expression suddenly changed from anger to surprise when he saw an all too familiar object in the dark thing's hand. Klarion saw the object too. Reflexively, his blood-stained hand went to his chest to feel for Morgan Le Fay's brand in his jacket's deep inside pocket. Klarion felt nothing there but his own racing heart.

The dark thing spoke, "The witch's evil now undo! Make the one from what is two!" Etrigan grunted. The 'M' mark faded from his forehead and his body instantly became as intangible as a ghost. All the metal strips on him fell slowly to the floor like shiny confetti. Then, the demon slowly began to disappear as his spirit moved from where it now stood and back into its bond with Jason Blood's spirit. Etrigan could do nothing but stand, and look with amazement at his own disappearing hands while the dark thing walked right through him.

"Give me the helmet!" the dark thing growled at Klarion once more and reached for him.

Klarion panicked and shut his eyes. As the dark thing's hand neared the red and blue helmet in Klarion's arms, the helmet suddenly began to glow white hot. The dark thing pulled its hands back reflexively in front of its face and then cursed when the helmet exploded. The explosion's shockwave blew apart the roof and walls of the red-carpeted room and sent their black stone pieces falling into the darkness below.

The explosion's wrath spent, Green Lantern willed the green force fields he had put around each of the heroes and himself to end. All the heroes, save Etrigan, were covered in the shiny strips from the smoke cloud. The smoke, now exposed to the air, had dissipated completely.

"Nice save, Lantern," Green Arrow said.

"And I thought I was fast," The Flash said and gave Green Lantern a pat on the back. When his friend did not respond, The Flash followed Green Lantern's eyes to the Batman who was removing what was left of his utility belt. All the pockets on the belt looked like they had exploded from the inside out. He tossed it aside. Then, he reached behind his back and removed another utility belt that was fastened to the inside of his cape and fastened it around his waist.

"What are these things?" The Flash said of the shiny strips all over him. He started to dust them off.

"Leave them on!" The Batman said.

The Flash froze.

"They're made of Nth metal," Green Lantern whispered to the startled Flash. "Leave them on your costume and they'll offer you some protection from magic."

The Batman saw something shiny at his feet. He bent down and picked it up. It was a blue piece of the destroyed helmet. He moved it between his fingers, so he could examine it from all sides. Then, he grimaced and closed his fist over the piece. Next, The Batman stood up, turned around, and removed a pair of binoculars from his belt. He aimed them and saw Chimera leading a massive army of stone Etrigans away from the castle. The Batman lowered the binoculars from his eyes. "All right, listen-up everyone. Flash, Etrigan, search this castle. B'wana Beast and Carlie Greene are probably somewhere in here."

"I know where they are," Etrigan said.

The Batman raised an eyebrow inside his mask. If he did not know better, he would swear the demon looked ashamed. "Fine, You and Flash get them and take them back to the Javelin Green Arrow, The Question, and I came here in." He tossed The Flash a black-colored device. The Flash caught it. "Use that tracker to guide you to the Javelin's exact location west of here. If the tracker suffers the same problems our other equipment has of late, then just run until you find it. Once B'wana and Carlie are safe, set the tracker so you can come join the rest of us."

"Will do, Bats. Let's go, Etrigan." Etrigan grunted. The demon was annoyed at being teamed up with someone as smile prone as the Flash, but he started on his way. Etrigan leapt off the tower and used his magic to slow his descent. The Flash simply ran down the tower to a place beside where Etrigan was going to land before gravity had time to get a hold of him.

"Green Lantern, take the rest of us after Chimera. She's got an army of stone monsters with her and whomever she's going to attack with it is going to need our help," The Batman said.

"Right," Green Lantern said. Green Lantern raised his ring fist over his head and surrounded the remaining heroes with a green sphere of energy. He lifted them all off the tower floor and after Chimera.

Within the Green energy sphere, Green Arrow moved over beside The Question, "I'm no authority on magic, but shouldn't all this hocus pocus around us start to disappear now that Klarion is dead? I mean, that's what's always happened in the past when we fought other bad guys with magic powers, right?"

"I've been thinking about that myself," The Question said. "And, I can only offer you three theories."

"And those are?" Green Arrow said.

The Question held up a fist and then raised his index finger. "One: I don't know about you, but I didn't a body back there on the tower so it is very possible Klarion is not dead."

Green Arrow's eyes went wide. "Wait, nobody could have… I mean, sure, we had Green Lantern's ring, but he-

The Question raised another finger to join his first, "Two: Klarion, dead or not, did something to reinforce his magic so his magical manipulation of Kaznia would be maintained even if he was killed or his powers were somehow nullified."

Green Arrow frowned, "And how would he—

The Question raised one more finger to join the other two. "Three: Someone else, not Klarion, is ultimately responsible, for this magic." The Question put his hand in the pocket of his overcoat and looked at Green Arrow.

Green Arrow considered The Question's final theory. It meant that something even more powerful than Klarion was out there waiting for them. He sighed, "Now I know why people say bad things come in threes."

X X X

The Teen Titans, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Queen Audrey emerged from the giant rock formation. Once they were all out, Starfire turned around and used one of her starbolts to collapse the cave entrance. "Now, even if that horrible cat wakes up, she will have to spend time digging herself out," Starfire said.

"Nice," Raven said.

"Okay, somebody explain to me again how that wild smoke grenade Starfire had been keeping under her skirt got us out of those things holding us," Beast Boy said.

Cyborg sighed, "Okay, here it is again. The smoke grenade had little pieces of metal in it. The metal is called Nth metal. It can disrupt magic. It was a metal brought to Earth in large amounts when the Thanagarians, Hawkgirl's people, invaded a few years back and tried to build that hyperspace bypass that would have destroyed the Earth."

"And Raven's powers weren't affected by the metal because?" Beast Boy said.

"Because the other device Starfire was carrying under her skirt generated a low power magnetic field that was enough to keep the Nth metal in the smoke bomb off Raven but not off the stuff holding her," Cyborg said.

"Oh!" Beast Boy said.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Cyborg said.

"Well, actually, no, but I'm glad we're all finally free," Beast Boy said.

"Get over there and give the Queen a ride before I give you the mother of all wedgies," Cyborg said.

Beast Boy shrugged his shoulders, smiled, morphed into a green stallion, and trotted over to Queen Audrey. There, Queen Audrey let Starfire lift her up onto Beast Boy's back.

Nightwing turned and faced everyone, "Let's make tracks. Raven, do you think you could— He stopped. The Titans, Queen Audrey and Batgirl all looked like they had just spotted a ghost.

"My god," Batgirl gasped.

"What?" said Nightwing. He turned and that was when he saw it: a dark-haired silver-winged woman leading a sky full of black stone giants carved in Etrigan's image. All the stone demons' eyes burned red with hellfire.

Cyborg used his cybernetic eye to magnify his view of the woman. "Guys, it's Carlie," he said.

"How?" Raven said.

"I'm less concerned about the 'how' as I am about the 'what'—as in 'What is she going to do with that army of stone monsters behind her?" Cyborg said.

"I think I have a pretty good idea," Robin said. "She's looking right at us." The heroes watched as the woman pointed down at them. "For my Klarion, attack!"

X X X

The man in the black and silver body suit sat straight in his mobius chair—a gold throne-shaped machine that allowed him to traverse space and time. His silver eyebrows narrowed. "And why do you need me? With all do respect, you are clearly more than capable of doing this yourself. My powers are nothing compared to yours."

"If I act, he may suspect either of us, especially my love and that is something I cannot allow, Metron."

Metron looked amazed. "Love? You? Sorry, I mean no disrespect, but is love not an extremely primitive concept for a being like you?"

"Perhaps, but I enjoy it no less. I am greater, Metron, but that does not make me perfect. We all need something."

Metron smiled. "Well said. "Very well, I will do as you ask, if only to see where these events lead. It is, after all, an extremely rare occurrence when one of your kind gets involved with our universe, and even rarer still when you concern yourself with a single member within it."

"All the more reason for you to participate,"

"Indeed," Metron said. "Farewell." He activated his chair. The chair opened a portal in the space-time continuum and together they passed through it.


	27. MOVE!

Superman awoke slowly. He ached all over. The heat of the burns on his skin were so strong, he could barely feel the soft bed and soft sheets under him. He opened his eyes and saw a female form in the dim light of the room. "Lois?" he said weakly.

"I'm afraid not, Superman," said a woman's voice. "This Lois must be very special to you. You said her name several times as you slept." The stranger placed a cool washcloth on his forehead. It felt incredibly good on his burned skin.

"She's in danger, I need to go." Superman said weakly. He started to sit up. However, he stopped halfway when the room started spinning and his burned body screamed at him to stop moving. He would have cried out if he had not been worried about vomiting.

The woman put a gentle but firm hand on his chest and guided him back down. "You are in no condition to go anywhere," the woman said.

Superman grimaced more than he already was. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"I am Seline, Draaga's wife to be." After he and his men recovered you from where you fell to our planet, they brought you here to our hospital and Draaga saw to it you got the best of care." She smiled at him. "That means me."

Superman's eyes adjusted to the dimness and for the first time he noticed the woman was wearing a very revealing string bikini-like outfit, with a lot of ornate beadwork. "I appreciate the help, but—

"Careful now, hero. I am this world's best doctor and all the hospitals on this planet, such as they are, answer to me. I dress this way to mark my engagement, nothing more. It is a custom among my people—to show other men what they have lost and what my husband will gain. Now hold still."

"What are you—

Superman felt Selene place something on his forehead. Suddenly, he felt his skin cool rapidly. He still felt the burns, but they were much more bearable.

"What is this?" Superman said as he touched the object on his head. It was flat and stuck on his forehead with a light adhesive.

"It's a form of neural inhibitor. It interferes with the wearer's pain receptors' ability to communicate with the brain. Mongul used to outfit his soldiers and gladiators with it to make them more able to endure damage in battle. I've found it to be a very useful healing tool."

Superman smiled. "Thank you. But, the fact remains, I really need to get back to Earth. Someone needs my help."

Seline shook her head. "You are almost killed, and still you think of others."

Superman tried to get up again, but Seline put her hands on his shoulders, "Superman, please." Again, the room started to spin and his burned flesh stung him. He had no choice but to let her hands guide him back down.

"Damn," he said. Frustration raised the volume of his voice. "Could we at least open a window and get some sunlight in here?" Superman said.

"I'm afraid it's evening now," Selene said.

"Of course, it is," Superman said. He thought of Lois and the terrible trouble he sensed she was in. Here he was helpless, failed by his amazing powers when he needed them most. He hit the bed mattress with his fist. The bed legs broke and the bed collapsed. The collapse surprised Superman as much as Selene. "I'm sorry," Superman said after a moment of tense silence. "It's just, I always try to be there when- His voice trailed off.

There was a silence. Selene decided to try and change the subject. "My husband told me about how you and he became friends. It is a story that both shames and inspires him at the same time."

"We definitely got off to a rocky start," Superman said.

"You understate, Superman. But, it has clearly been a blessing in the end. Since Draaga faced you, he has become a thousand times the man he was. He has dedicated himself to repairing every wound on this planet, wounds Mongul was satisfied to let bleed. And he does it all without reward."

"I don't know about that," Superman said as he looked Selene in the eyes.

Selene blushed. "You flatter me, Kryptonian."

"I'm trying to make up for my childish behavior since I woke up," Superman said.

Selene chuckled. "I suppose a broken bed is a small price to pay for you saving us all."

"Thanks," Superman said. "Now, if I promise not to wreck it, could you bring me a communicator? I need to call home and find out what is going on. I need to let my people know Green Lantern is missing, and let them know about what has happened to me."

Selene nodded. "I will go now and tell my husband you are awake and have him get a communicator from your ship. I will also bring some food for you, but first…" Superman watched her as she walked over to the room's main window and threw it open to let in the warm night air and the moonlight into the room. "It's not the sun, but it'll have to do for now," Selene said. "Just promise me you won't try to fly out of this window. I think you've crashed to the ground enough for one day."

"I promise," Superman said.

Selene exited the room, closing the room's wooden door behind her.

Superman sighed and tried to get up again, but the dizziness, and the pain from the burns on his body, sent him right back down again. When his head cleared enough, he started to think. He was healing; he was sure of it, but not nearly as fast as he should be. But, then, he was caught in the explosion of a bunch of hellspore mines from Apocolypse, and Darksied's weapons were not known for their victims' survival and recovery rates.

Superman tried to focus his mind on the report he would give the Justice League when he got his hands on a communicator, but his thoughts moved immediately to Lois Lane, the most captivating woman he had ever met. Immediately, his heart warmed, but it also filled with worry.

Superman glanced at Planet Draaga's moon and considered breaking his promise to Selene, but he knew his own body, and she was right. He would probably just end up on the ground below, perhaps injuring himself further. Right now, his whole body felt like it was smoldering. This was arguably the worst he had ever been hurt. He was in no condition to fly.

As Superman continued to look at Planet Draaga's moon, it triggered a memory in Superman about another time. It was shortly after he and The Batman first met. Superman smiled wryly. It was not the best first meeting. Batman had come to Metropolis in search of the Joker. During this search, not only did the two heroes tussle, and invade each other's privacy to discover each other's secret identities, but the Batman, as Bruce Wayne, won Lois's heart.

However, when Lois discovered Bruce Wayne and The Batman were the same man, she kept his secret and his friendship, but she knew in her heart she could not take their relationship any further. Superman surmised with Lois' learning Bruce's secret identity, there was suddenly too much about Bruce she did not know and was not sure she wanted to know. A day or so prior to Lois sorting out her feelings for Bruce and The Batman however, Bruce, after having a battle wound tended to by Lois, came outside to talk with Superman. The Man of Steel had been waiting outside on Lois' apartment's balcony to talk with The Dark Knight.

"It's funny you know," Bruce said to The Man of Steel that night. "She likes Bruce Wayne, and she likes Superman. It's the other two guys she's not crazy about."

"Too bad we can't mix and match," Superman had replied. It was one of the rare times he saw Bruce crack a smile.

Then, later, when Superman, as Clark Kent, went to see Bruce Wayne off at the airport (the Billionaire was about to board his private jet and fly back to Gotham), Bruce walked up to him and said of Lois, "She's all yours now, if you can handle that. But you better be good to her." Bruce put a finger in his face and smiled wryly. "Because I know where you live." Clark had cracked a smile in return.

From that day on, Clark took Bruce's advice to heart and gave Lois every free moment he had as Superman. This brought Lois closer to him than ever before, but despite her happiness, he knew he was being unfair to her as well. He knew, while she was closer to Superman than ever, she did not have the same feelings for Clark. And, Clark, after all, was who he really was.

Clark told himself, at first, he could not tell Lois his secret because he wanted to protect her from his enemies, but this was, at least for the last couple of years now, a lie. Superman's favoritism towards Lois Lane was public knowledge, even before they were seeing each other. She had even been nicknamed by the press, to her half-hearted embarrassment, 'the one Superman always saves'.

The real reason he kept his double life from her now, and perhaps from the very beginning, was because of fear. First, he was afraid Lois would be disappointed when she found out he was Clark, and found out he had kept this secret from her for so long, she would walk out of his life forever. Second, he was not sure he could really have a woman in his life completely. A family? Even now, the thought made him uneasy. He lied back on his pillow and prayed his wounds would heal soon.

X X X

"Attack!" Chimera shouted. The hundreds of black stone copies of Etrigan roared and their fiery eyes started to glow intensely as they looked down at the Teen Titans, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Queen Audrey.

"They're gonna fry us!" Cyborg said.

"Raven!" Robin shouted.

Instantly, Raven raised a black dome of her soul-energy over them all.

The fiery eye beams from hundreds of stone demons came down like a god's judgment. The dome was no match for the massive energy attack. When the demons stopped firing, there was nothing left where the young heroes and the Queen had been but a crater.

"Klarion, my lord, your will is done," Chimera said. She turned around to face her stone army, and, suddenly, saw a huge bright green morning star smash into the centre of it. At least a hundred of the stone monsters were smashed to pieces. When the dust cleared, Chimera saw Green Lantern flying stationary behind what was left of her forces. His eyes were ablaze with green energy from his ring as he willed that same ring-energy to maintain a massive copy of Shayera's weapon of choice in the air in front of him.

Green Lantern glared at Chimera. "Oh yeah? Well, my will's just getting started! Rrraaaaaaah!" Green Lantern brought the morning star up and down again into Chimera's army, smashing more of the black stone monsters to bits.

"Destroy him," Chimera said to the rest of her forces. The stone demons started to swarm on Green Lantern.

"Wow," Green Arrow said from the ground. He had glanced upward at Green Lantern as he ran alongside The Batman, The Question, and Mr. Terrific. "I don't think I've seen the Lantern so angry."

"Cut the chatter," The Batman said. "Focus on getting to the Javelin while Lantern keeps that army busy."

"Oh he'll keep my army busy, but I have plenty of time for you."

The Batman, and the rest of the heroes with him, skidded to a halt on the rocky ground. Hovering just above the ground in front of them was Chimera. She took a deep breath.

"I know that look!" Green Arrow said.

Mr. Terrific reached out and pulled The Question and Green Arrow to him just as Chimera let loose an ultrasonic scream of formidable force. For the four heroes, the scream was like standing behind a jet engine. The sound blast picked them up, along with dirt and stones from the ground, and blasted them backward. When Chimera's scream was spent, the four men's bodies hit the ground rolled, and came to a stop where they groaned.

"That was an experience," The Question said as he reached over beside him for his dust covered fedora and put it back on his head. Dirt poured down out of it and made him cough.

Green Arrow, his mouth full of dust, spit and looked over at Mr. Terrific. "Okay, we aren't deaf because?"

"My T-sphere's," Mr. Terrific said after spiting out his own mouthful of dirt. Green Arrow and The Question immediately recalled the silver fist-sized spheres, each decorated with a red 'T', that were seen hovering in around Mr. Terrific when he was in battle. "I mentally commanded them to create a field of destructive interference. It wasn't enough to nullify the force of the sonic attack, but it saved our eardrums. I'm just glad I kept them on my belt instead of hovering around me, and you guys were in arm's reach. Mr. Terrific pulled two of the three spheres from his belt and tossed one each to The Question and Green Arrow. "Here, in case she tries that again. The automated defense systems in these should—

"Look out!" The Batman shouted as Chimera passed over him and flew like a missile at Mr. Terrific. Mr. Terrific shoved The Question and Green Arrow away just as Chimera reached him. The impact, backed by super strength second only to Superman's, hit Mr. Terrific hard, or would have if his remaining T-sphere had not managed to raise a force field in front of him and absorb most of the impact. The T-sphere overloaded and exploded and Mr. Terrific was knocked through the air.

Satisfied with her attack on Mr. Terrific, Chimera brought her hand to a mark on her chest. The Question recognized the mark to be the same fox-head shape as Vixen's Tantu Totem. Chimera touched the mark with the tips of her fingers and gave herself the powers of the King Cobra—including its incredibly deadly venom. She turned to face The Question and hissed.

"Jesus!" The Question said as Chimera reared and prepared to strike. But before she could, Green Arrow drew his bow and fired. Three impact arrows slammed into Chimera's back.

Chimera cried out in pain as the arrows' electric charge passed through her into the ground, and she was not prepared when The Question ran forward and hit her has hard as he could with his gloved fist. Unfortunately, the blow did little more than make Chimera angry. Chimera growled and burst into green flame. The sudden blast of hot air knocked The Question backward off his feet. He landed a short distance away on his backside and could feel burns on his neck and on his wrists just below his gloves. He ignored the pain and whipped four of his Q-shaped shuriken at Chimera. Chimera deflected two of them off the metal bracelets on her wrists, the third and fourth she caught and whipped behind her, one into each of Green Arrow's hands. The emerald archer cried out in pain and dropped his bow.

Chimera aimed her hands at The Question and sent a massive stream of green fire at him. The Question closed his eyes expecting the steam to roast the flesh off his bones, but he felt only a little heat. The T-sphere in his pocket raised a shied between him and the flames just in time. It would not have done so since it had been set to deal with another sonic scream, but a quick mental command from Mr. Terrific had activated the force field. Mr. Terrific watched the battle through blurry eyes from the distance Chimera had knocked him. Blood was running down his chin from his nose and mouth. He blacked-out and the Question's force field blacked-out with him.

"Let's try that again," Chimera said and she prepared to fire on The Question once more. Suddenly, six spheres no bigger than large marbles hit her. The spheres exploded on impact covering her with white foam.

Chimera looked in the direction the sphere's came from and saw The Batman. "You can't extinguish magical fire with chemicals," she said. Chimera turned and started moving towards The Batman. She stumbled. She looked down and saw the foam on her foot was growing. She tried to cry out in rage, but the foam covered her mouth. The foam continued to swell in all the places it had hit Chimera until she was encased in a spongy cocoon. The cocoon fell over like a football placed on its end and then released.

"You got her," The Question said breathlessly.

The Batman's eye's narrowed. "Not for long!" "Question, Get Mr. Terrific!"

The Question rolled to his feet and ran towards the prone Mr. Terrific. The faceless hero got Mr. Terrific up over his shoulder and then moved as fast as he could back towards The Batman. Ignoring the pain in his hands, Green Arrow recovered his bow and and rushed over to see if he could help The Question. "I've got him!" The Question said and hurried past Green Arrow.

Green Arrow hesitated. "We can't just leave her, I mean them, like this," he said gesturing at the foam cocoon. The Question started to slow as he looked back at Green Arrow.

"Come on! There's nothing we can do for them right now!" The Batman growled.

"But-" The Question said.

The Batman grimaced. "We're no good to them, if she kills us first! We need a plan! Now, MOVE!"

The strength of The Batman's last word got The Question and Green Arrow moving again. The Batman waited for them to run past him and then followed.

X X X

"They are behind this door," Etrigan said.

"Great, let's get them out," the Flash said. He reached for the door's fancy knob. Etrigan grabbed his hand. The Flash looked at him. The demon looked troubled.

"What are you doing?" The Flash said.

Etrigan let go of his hand. "You get them out. I cannot help you." Etrigan started to fade away.

"Hey wait!" The Flash said, but it was too late. The demon was gone.

"Terrific," The Flash said. "Fine, I'll do it without you!" the Flash said to the empty air around him. He turned the doorknob and stepped into the room behind it. His voice was crushed to a whisper by what he saw. "Oh my god."


	28. The End?

B'wana Beast, sans his helmet, was manacled to the same kind of "X" shaped crucifix Fire and the other Justice League women were manacled to before Klarion turned them into Chimera. B'wana Beasts wrists and ankles were raw from his attempts to free himself from his bonds. He looked exhausted. His face was red and covered in dry tears. There was also blood on B'wana Beast's chest and face. He looked like he had been tortured.

In an instant, the Flash was at B'wana Beast's side. He undid the manacles and the jungle hero, his legs weak from poor circulation, started to fall to the floor. Flash caught B'wana Beast and kept him on his feet. "Don't worry, B'wana. I'll get you and the lady out of here before you can say 'rescue'. Just tell me where she is and—The Flash realized B'wana Beast was not listening to him.

B'wana Beast shook his head and his breath was labored, "There was nothing… I couldn't... It was so…evil, Flash. So…evil. The things he did… And, I wasn't…strong…strong enough to save her." B'wana Beast's head fell and he started to cry. Flash had worked with B'wana Beast a few times over the past couple of years and came to think of the jungle hero with the strong New York accent as a pretty tough guy. To see him like this, to hear him sound so…so broken, it sent a chill up the Flash's spine. _What could have done this?_ The Flash thought. Suddenly, the stink of copper filled The Flash's nostrils and he turned to see where B'wana Beast's eyes rested.

When he was not working with the Justice League, the Flash was Wally West: a member of Central City's Police Department's homicide forensics team. Thus, he was no stranger to the horrible things one person could do to another. However, this was the first time he had seen some of these horrible things done to someone who was still alive afterward. The nude woman on the bed in front of the two heroes was battered and bruised. There were claws marks all over her body, some of which were still bleeding. Her nose and jaw were broken, and she was bleeding from her nose, mouth, and from between her legs. Her arms and legs were broken and The Flash could see bone sticking out of one of her legs. In his stunned silence, The Flash could hear her breathing. It was labored and sounded like someone taking air through a garden hose with some water still in it.

The flash had to force himself to move. He brought his hand to his ear and activated his communicator. "Batman?"

The Batman was running with The Question and Green Arrow to the Javelin in which they arrived. Mr. Terrific was over the Question's shoulder. The Batman was pleased to hear his Justice League Communicator working again. However, this feeling was quickly replaced with a sense of dread for he had never heard The Flash sound so solemn. "Flash," The Batman said.

"I found B'wana Beast and the girl, but she's…" The Flash's voice trailed off.

"What is it, Flash?" The Batman said.

"I… She's… I'm going to need help moving her." The Flash said finally.

The Batman's face saddened at the thought of what his teammate must be seeing. "Understood," The Batman said. When we get to the Javelin, we'll come for you. But, until we get there, stay where you are."

"Yeah. Okay." Flash said. He ended the contact.

_Damn, if only the Javelin was closer_. The Batman thought. Then, as if the vehicle had heard him, The Javelin appeared on the horizon. The Batman, The Question, and Green Arrow stopped in their tracks.

"Who?" Green Arrow said.

The Javelin's air boarding hatch opened and three figures flew out. It was Beast Boy, he had transformed himself into a Pteranodon; Starfire, and Raven. The Teen Titans swooped down and picked up The Batman, Green Arrow, The Question, and the unconscious Mr. Terrific.

Once they were all aboard, The Batman made his way up to the front of the Javelin. He saw Robin standing there with Cyborg waiting for him. Nightwing and Batgirl were in the pilot and co-pilot seats respectively. They looked back at The Batman, nodded and smiled, and then turned their attention back to the Javelin's controls. Buckled in her own seat just behind Batgirl's, was Queen Audrey. She looked back and smiled at The Batman as well. The Batman acknowledged them all with a nod and then looked back at Robin. "Raven."

"Yep," said Robin with a smile. "The dome was just for show. She teleported us all to a spot that just happened to be near the Javelin, and we decided to come and pick you up. I used your access code. I hope you don't mind."

"Good work," The Batman said. Now, get us back to the castle. Flash needs us."

"Setting course," Nightwing said. Then he started getting out of the pilot seat expecting The Batman to want to take over the controls.

"I'll go tell the other's in back," The Batman said.

Nightwing and Robin both raised an eyebrow. "All right." Robin said. Without another word, The Batman turned and made his way to the back of the Javelin.

In the rear of the Javelin, Raven was busy tending to Mr. Terrific. She was using her powers to accelerate his body's own natural healing processes. Thanks to her work, Mr. Terrific was conscious again. At the same time near Raven, Starfire was using the Javelin's medical supplies to tend to The Question's burns and Beast boy was also very close by using those same supplies to help Green Arrow clean and bandage his hands.

"Are you going to be able to fire a bow like that?" The Batman said. Everyone was startled.

"Damn, I've had cats that make more noise than you," Green Arrow said. After a moment, he winked at The Batman. With Raven's and this guy's help—he mussed Beast Boy's hair—'I should be using bad guys for target practice again in no time."

"Good," The Batman said.

The Batman stood there quietly while everyone worked. His cape fell around him in such a way that made him look like a shadow. Starfire kept her eyes on her work. She could not bring herself to look at The Batman. She felt so foolish for getting so badly injured. Even now, she could feel him looking at her, judging her a fool for her mistake and totally unworthy of Robin's love. She wore a simple black plastic eye patch over her eye now. Raven had healed Starfire's eye socket enough so it was no longer a mess of scratched and cooked flesh and blood, but there was nothing Raven could do for her eye. It was destroyed. Starfire knew her appearance would be alien to The Batman, but now Starfire felt she must look not only alien, but absolutely hideous to Robin's 'father'. Soon he would express his disapproval of her and it would all be over. The thought of losing Robin was almost more than she could bear.

"Raven, a moment of your time," The Batman said suddenly.

Raven turned to face The Batman. Compared to The Dark Knight, Raven, with her gray skin and dark blue hooded cape, looked almost sunny.

"Go ahead, I should be okay now," Mr. Terrific said. Raven did not move. She was in awe. She thought she knew dark, but there was something about the Batman even she found unsettling. It took a boot in the backside from Beast Boy to get her moving. "Um, okay," Raven said. "I mean, yes, sir," she said.

The Batman started walking away, and Raven followed. Once they were in the middle between the heroes at the front of the Javelin and the heroes in back, The Batman stopped and turned around. Raven stopped and stood there in front of The Batman. Together, they looked like a evil priestess standing before an idol of her dark lord.

Starfire suddenly felt a pang of jealousy and strained to hear what the Batman was saying to Raven, but she could not make anything out. She might as well be listening to a pair of shadows.

After a moment, Raven came back to Starfire and the others, while the Batman returned to the front of the Javelin.

"What did he say? What did he say?" Beast Boy said excitedly.

"He said we're going back to the castle to help The Flash."

"What about, Green Lantern?" Green Arrow said.

"Him too," Raven said.

Then, suddenly, a small smile appeared on Raven's face. While the sudden change in expression made Mr. Terrific, The Question and Green Arrow curious, Beast Boy and Starfire, who knew a smile on Raven's face was as rare as a birthday party at a cemetery, went wide-eyed.

"What else did he say to you?," Starfire said.

Raven's smile grew just a tiny bit bigger. "He said…thank-you for saving everyone." And, with that, she walked back to Mr. Terrific and resumed helping him heal. Starfire looked at Raven for a moment before returning to The Question's burns.

"Ahh," The Question said as Starfire accidentally scratched his burned wrist with her fingernails.

"I'm sorry," Starfire said, bringing a the offending hand to her mouth.

"It's okay," The Question said.

Suddenly Starfire stood up, "Please excuse me for a moment, Mr. Question."

"Of course," The Question said to her, but Starfire was already walking away from him. Starfire went into the Javelin's small lavatory and locked the door. She sat on the toilet and cried into her hand as softly as she could.

X X X

Green Lantern was tired. He just finished off the last of Chimera's massive stone army and was about to make his way to the Javelin when, suddenly, he heard something explode on the ground below. In a blast of extremely hot green fire, Chimera broke free of the Batman's clever chemical trap. Seeing the Batman and the other heroes with him were nowhere around her, Chimera frowned and flew up into the air to face Green Lantern.

"Impressive," Chimera said to him as she looked around the now demonless grey sky. "There were at leat one thousand stone demons in my army. We're you this good at fighting for your life when you were banging Vixen?"

Green Lantern ignored her, "Shayera, Vixen, this isn't you. Fight her! Break free!"

Chimera smiled wryly. "Oh, that's where you're wrong, John—Green lantern flinched when she used his name—'Shayera and Mari are very much a part of me. Incidentally, do you have any idea how angry they were at you? I mean, how could they not have been? Vixen knew you decided to dump her as soon as Shayera returned to the Justice League, and Shayera knew you took her back out of pity because she had no other friends on this wretched planet since her people tried to take it over."

"You know nothing about me or them," Green Lantern hissed.

"On the contrary, John, I know everything about Mari and Shayera. And, now I know everything they knew about you. For instance, I know the Oan battery you use to charge that ring of yours is back at your apartment hidden in a pocket dimension. I also know you've been on a mission on planet Dragga up until today. Add to that the fact you just used up quite a bit of energy fighting my stone demons, and I'm pretty sure I'm right when I say you haven't got much energy left in that crackerjack prize you call a power ring."

Green Lantern frowned, "I've got more than enough energy left to take care of you. None of the powers you've stolen from Shayera, Vixen, or the others women are a match for my ring."

Chimera winked at him. "Then I'll use my own. Chimera held out her hand and closed her fist. Suddenly a black sand storm rose up all around Green Lantern. Green Lantern brought up a hand to shield his eyes even though the thin exoskeleton of green ring-energy around him was more than enough protection from the dark material in the air. He lost sight of Chimera completely.

Then, just as quickly as the storm arose, it stopped and Green Lantern saw Chimera again as well as every stone demon he had destroyed. They blackened the sky with their numbers once again, but, this time, Chimera altered their shape so half of them looked like Shayera and the other half looked like Vixen. Chimera laughed. "This must be a real nightmare for a two-timer like you, John."

Green Lantern gritted his teeth and fired a blast of energy from his ring hoping to knock Chimera out with it before the demons could attack, but she crossed her bracelets in front of her and the blast ricocheted harmlessly off them. Then, Chimera disappeared from Green Lantern's view again as the stone demons rushed forward to attack him anew.

Chimera was about to use her flame powers to give Green Lantern even more trouble when a voice suddenly spoke inside her head. When it finished speaking, she mentally summoned an escort of six of the stone demons from amongst the ones attacking Green Lantern, and, together, they headed towards the dome of grey clouds covering Kaznia. The clouds parted, and Chimera and her escort passed into the sky beyond.

X X X

"Um, maybe it's just me, but weren't there that many black stone monsters when we were here the first time?" Beast Boy said.

Green Arrow watched Green Lantern fly amongst the stone monsters and blast them with his ring. "Man, he's still fighting them. I can't believe Lantern volunteered to take all these on by himself," Green Arrow said.

"But it doesn't look like he's put a dent in their numbers," Batgirl said. "Do they regenerate or something?"

The Batman grimaced, "Let's find out. Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, get out there and give the Lantern some support. Cyborg, you, Robin and Batgirl take control of the Javelin weapon systems and open fire. Nightwing, take co-pilot, I'm flying. Green Arrow, monitor the strength of the Javelin's energy shields. Question, take radar and keep an eye out for more incoming. Move, now!" No one questioned The Dark Knight's orders, and, in seconds, every hero was where they were supposed to be.

Cyborg was the first to get a lock on some of the stone demons with the Javelin's weapon systems. He fired and blew them apart. After a moment, he said, "Nope, it doesn't look like they regenerate, but they sure look a lot sexier than they did when they first tried to fry us.

"And here I thought we'd fought our share of earth-formed women in that underwater cave," Robin said.

"Just keep firing!" Batgirl said.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos! Suddenly, a bunch of the black demons became even blacker as Raven's soul energy filled them and they exploded. Raven flew through their dust remains. Meanwhile, Starfire had taken a position above the Javelin. She threw starbolt after starbolt and blew apart stone demon after stone demon before they could use their deadly eyes to fire on the Justice League aircraft. She could not stop them all from hitting the Javelin, but she kept the number of blasts coming from the demons at a level the Javelin's shields could handle.

Beast Boy, while his progress was slower than Raven and Starfire's, was still doing his best to destroy the stone demons. Taking a Pteranodon's, form, he would draw blasts from the demons' fiery eyes. Then, he would change into a humming bird and let the beams race right past him into another stone demon, blowing the latter monster apart. Sometimes, Beast Boy would morph into a gorilla, land on the back of one of the demons. There he would either smash the demon in half or break its head off with his bare hands. He would also sometimes force the demon he landed on into the flight path of another and jump off just before the two stone demons collided. Raven caught a glimpse of Beast Boy, as a Gorilla, breaking off the head of one stone demon and throwing it at another, knocking of its head. She smiled—a little. Sometimes, when he was not trying to be funny, Beast Boy could make really good use of his powers. Raven then turned her attention ahead. She weaved and dodged her way over to Green Lantern's position. "Are you okay?" Raven shouted.

"Fine, but I'm glad to have the help!" Green Lantern shouted back. A stone demon came up behind Raven and tried to grab her, but Green Lantern blew it apart with a blast from his ring. Meanwhile Raven filled a stone demon behind Green Lantern with her soul energy before it could fire its deadly eye beams at him, and she sent it smashing through six of its kind.

"Thanks," the heroes said simultaneously to each other. Then, they turned back to back and continued to battle the sky full of stone Vixens and Shayeras.

Green Lantern was lying. He was not fine. He was really tired. And, Chimera had been right. His ring was almost out of power. Soon, his ring would not even have enough power to keep him in the sky. He looked over to the Javelin and wondered if he could make a break for it before his ring ran out of energy, but he quickly dismissed the thought when he saw a group of stone demons come up behind Starfire and prepare to fire on her. "No!" Green Lantern shouted and fired as big a blast of energy from his ring as he could muster. The blast of emerald energy flew over Starfire. She followed the blast with her eyes and watched as it blew the group of stone demons behind her to powder.

That was it. Green Lantern's ring was spent. The green exoskeleton around Green Lantern faded out, and so did the green light in his eyes. He started falling to the ground below.

"Green Lantern!" Raven shouted and started to turn around to save him, but blasts from a group of five demons forced her to shield herself instead. Then, another demon came out of nowhere. It rammed Raven's shield and sent her flying.

Starfire saw Raven get knocked away from Green Lantern and suddenly bolted from her place above the Javelin. Robin and Cyborg saw where Starfire was headed and why on their targeting computer displays. The two Teen Titans quickly concentrated their fire around Starfire to give their Tamaranean teammate some room to maneuver. What demons Cyborg and Robin didn't blast apart, Starfire flew around with amazing speed. Then, suddenly, she flew down, skimmed the ground, came up under Green Lantern. She caught him just before he hit the ground. He was nearly twice her size, but her superhuman strength absorbed the impact, and she kept them both in the air.

Starfire immediately started to climb, and frowned when she saw five stone demons were coming right down at her. Her eye started to glow and a continuous blast of Starbolt energy flew from it. The blast blew the two demons in the middle of the group of five to pieces. Then, Starfire turned and slipped between the other three before they could grab onto her or Green Lantern.

Starfire kept moving. She weaved between, looped around, twisted past, and dodged blasts and rushes from twenty more demons as she tried to make her way back to the Javelin, but the demons would not let up their assault. She kept having to change course so the stone demons' attacks would miss her. Green Lantern, for his part, just shut his eyes and prayed.

"Cyborg, go," Robin said.

"Going," Cyborg said.

"Lower the boarding ramp!" Robin said.

"Question, take my place." Cyborg said.

"The Question hit a button on his radar console to transfer his console's radar readouts to Nightwing's co-pilot console and then hurried over and took Cyborg' seat at the weapons console. The Question frowned behind his mask. He had spent very little time in Javelins, let alone using their weapons. "There's so many of them," The Question said as he looked at the targeting computer display now in front of him.

"Just makes them easier to hit," Batgirl said.

The Question carefully took the weapon controls in hand and fired. He blew away five of the stone demons without even trying to aim. "So it does," The Question said and continued to fire. Meanwhile, Cyborg ran to the back of the Javelin.

Nightwing pressed a button on his control panel, and the boarding ramp lowered-with Cyborg on it. The half-man half-machine Teen Titan held on to part of the ramp's mechanism with his right hand to keep himself on the ramp and transformed his left hand into one of his sonic cannons. The second the hatch was open, the stone demons that saw it headed straight for it. Cyborg started blowing apart these would be boarders with his sonic cannon. "Sorry ladies, this aircraft is heroes only!" he shouted. He looked to his right and saw another group of stone demons heading for him. "Oh, you ladies want some of this too?" He turned to face them and fired, but just as he blew some of the incoming group out of the sky, one lone stone demon shaped like Vixen zipped up the ramp behind him. "No!" Cyborg shouted. But, his expression immediately turned to one of relief as the same demon fell back out of the ship, rolled down the ramp, and fell off it, followed by the boxing glove arrow that hit it in the face. "Booyah," Cyborg said and resumed firing his cannon at the sky full of demons.

Starfire and Green Lantern smiled when they saw Cyborg on the Javelin boarding ramp giving them additional support. Starfire blew apart two more stone demons with blasts from her eye, did a loop to dodge a blast from another six demons' eyebeams, and then flew right past Cyborg inside the Javelin's hatch. She landed inside the craft, set Green Lantern down, and then flew right back out the hatch to rejoin the sky battle outside. Nightwing raised the hatch behind her and Cyborg continued to fire on stone demons outside with his sonic cannon until the ramp was completely raised. Cyborg morphed his sonic cannon back into a hand and came up beside Green Lantern. "Are you all right?"

"I will be when my head and stomach stop spinning. "Green Lantern said. "Man, that girl is a hell of a flyer."

Robin overheard Green Lantern's comment and smiled. The Teen Titans' leader watched Starfire with pride in a window on his computer display—he had set the computer to track her so he could keep an eye on her and help her if she needed it while he fired on the enemy. "Way to go, Star," he whispered to her image.

X X X

Etrigan rematerialized in the bowels of Klarion's dark castle. Now he stood in what he knew was the castle's inner sanctum. The dark room was full of shelves with books, jars of human and animal parts, and other dark ingredients for necromancy. With Klarion no longer around to protect this room, it was a simple enough task for Etrigan to find it.

The demon sniffed the air and in moments he found the most powerful object in the room. He pulled a copy of the Bible from the shelf and opened it. The book was not a book at all, but a box made to look like one. In it was a small nude statue of Carlie Greene. Etrigan studied it. It looked like nothing more than a trinket, but it reeked of incredible dark magic.

Etrigan grimaced as he relived his violation of the real Carlie Greene in his mind. To Etrigan, it was Klarion's control of him that angered him the most, but he knew what he had done was something that would give Jason Blood nightmares for years to come. Etrigan growled. "I do not know how, but you have gained much since we last battled on the streets of Gotham, Klarion, including a dark appreciation for irony." Etrigan put the statue in both his hands and snapped it in half. The statue, as it broke, sounded like a cannon shot, and this sound echoed throughout the castle.

X X X

"What was that?" B'wana Beast said.

"I don't know," The Flash said. The two heroes looked and saw the walls of the fancy bedroom they were in were beginning to melt. "That's not good," The Flash said.

B'wana Beast looked at The Flash. "If what you told me about The Batman defeating Klarion is true, I think Klarion's spell is finally broken." He looked at the ceiling. "The whole castle might be coming down."

The room shook.

"Oh, man," The Flash said. "We've got to get out of here."

B'wana Beast's eyes widened. "But what about Carlie? We can't just leave her."

"We won't," The Flash said.

"But, The Batman hasn't arrived. How can we-"

"You still have your strength without that mask of yours?" The Flash said.

"Yes, but what good will that—

"We're going to have to move her," The Flash said.

"But that could kill her," B'wana Beast said.

The floor started to fall away.

"Staying here will kill her," Flash said. "Grab the far end of the mattress. We're going to carry her out."

"But—

"Do it!"

B'wana Beast did as he was told. Meanwhile, The Flash went over and quickly smashed the bedroom's big window with super-speed punches. His costume kept the glass from cutting his fists. Then, in the next instant, he had his hands behind his back holding the other end of the mattress. Flash closed his eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, B'wana Beast felt his whole body tingle.

"Whoa, What the hell was that?" B'wana Beast said.

The room was melting faster now as well as falling apart. In another couple of minutes, there would be no floor on which to stand. Flash opened his eyes again, but was still focusing his mind. "When I say 'now', run as fast as you can and follow me out the window, and, whatever you do, don't look down."

"You're crazy." B'wana Beast said.

"Do you want to save her or not?"

"Okay! Okay!"

"On three!" The Flash said. "One! Two! Three!"

B'wana Beast started to run as fast as his legs could carry him towards the window and, suddenly, the whole room went quiet. B'wana looked around. He and The Flash were running, but everything around them was moving in slow motion. The room's destruction slowed to nothing, and B'wana Beast saw a piece of dark stone that had broken free from the ceiling stopped in mid air. B'wana Beast followed The Flash out the window, and then looked up at the sky. The jungle hero saw a thin jagged light moving between two clouds in the sky. It moved so much slower than light should. When B'wana Beast realized he was looking at a bolt of lightning, a chill ran down his spine and he nearly let go of the mattress. He steadied himself, gripped the edge of the mattress he was holding harder, and started to look down. However, at the last moment, he remembered The Flash's warning. Instead, B'wana Beast just locked his eyes on The Flash running on the other side of the mattress in front of him. B'wana Beast continued to do so until the Flash held up his hand for the jungle hero to stop running. B'wana Beast slowed to a stop and, immediately, sound returned to his ears. The Flash told him to put the mattress with Carlie on it down. They did.

"Nice work," The Flash said to B'wana Beast, and then the scarlet speedster eyes rolled into his head and he collapsed.

B'wana Beast started to hurry over to help the Flash, but a thunderous sound stole his attention and he turned around. He saw Klarion's mighty castle collapsing and the grey clouds overhead parting. Then the realization hit B'wana Beast. He was outside the castle—on the ground! _How did The Flash get us down here?_ B'wana Beast wondered. A ray of sunlight broke through the clouds above and B'wana Beast saw Kaznia's magically warped land was returning to normal. He looked around and saw people and animals trapped in the ground started to pull free from the land's horrible grip. B'wana Beast risked a glance at Carlie, but the girl was just as ravaged as she had been when Flash had first seen her. B'wana Beast got down beside her and listened. She was still breathing, barely. He touched her hand, looked up and prayed help came soon.

X X X

"We're taking a pounding here!" Green Arrow said as he looked at the Javelin's defensive shields readout on his console's display. "The shields are down to thirty percent and hull integrity is down twenty percent." The Batman frowned. The Javelin-7 was an amazing aircraft. He should know. He designed it. The vehicle had been tested time and again in battle conditions and performed impressively. However, now that Green Lantern was inside the Javelin, the Vixen and Shayera-shaped stone demons outside were focusing the bulk of their attacks on the Javelin. Even for an outstanding pilot like The Batman, avoiding the demon's attacks in the damaged Javelin was like an elephant trying to dodge mosquitoes. And, the magical nature of the demons' eye blasts was making it difficult for the Javelin's shields to withstand them.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ship.

"They got my weapons array," Robin said.

"And mine and The Question's weapons are now at half power," Batgirl said.

Another explosion rocked the ship.

"That's it for our shields!" Green Arrow said.

"And our engines!" Nightwing said.

"Oh man, this is gonna be ugly," Cyborg whispered so no one could here.

"We've got incoming!" Nightwing said.

"Now what?" The Batman growled as he tried to keep the Javelin in the air.

A voice filled all the minds of the Javelin crew and it's protectors in flight outside it, "Now we bring this battle to an end."

The Batman smiled. "J'onn."

A gold energy sphere surrounded the near-helpless Javelin and stopped its fall. Smaller spheres of the same type surrounded Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven. The demons fired their eye blasts at the spheres, but they could not pierce them and hit the heroes within them. The creator of the spheres, the gold and blue uniformed Dr. Fate, guided the spheres and their precious contents to the ground.

Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven turned to see a legion of heroes approaching from above out of a brilliant giant ankh-shaped portal . "Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god!" said Beast Boy. His smile was huge. "There's Dr. Light—man she's hot! There's Captain Atom! Those two are Star and Stripe! There's Shining Knight on his winged horse! My god, that's Aztek! There's Red Tornado! And, oh man, there's Captain Marvel!

Starfire pointed at a blonde haired hero in a gold and dark-blue uniform. There was a dark-blue star on his chest, and He wore a gold and dark-blue goggles-like mask over his eyes. He, also, had a little gold robot flying beside him that looked like a cross between a mini rocket and an electronic eye. "Who's that?" she said.

Beast Boy looked at the hero for a moment. "Is that Green Lantern?"

Raven frowned. "Green Lantern's aboard the Javelin, dummy."

"Oh, okay." Beast Boy shrugged his shoulders. Then I have no idea."

The army of flying heroes, the ones Beast Boy named and more, unleashed their combined powers: strength, wind, energy, magic, and technology on the stone demons below. It was a brilliant display of power. The stone demons were pulverized into dust. The monsters never had a chance.

X X X

The Batman, J'onn, and Dr. Fate stood together while the rest of the heroes patrolled the Kaznia and helped everywhere they could. The Batman raised an eyebrow when he saw Starfire fly by with a wagon full of people she had collected. He saw her glance in his direction and then quickly look away. He watched her go and then turned to talk to Dr. Fate. "You have an excellent sense of timing," The Batman said to the magic-user.

"With Klarion's spell broken, It was easy to come to your aid," Dr. Fate said. "However, I sense our recent magical problems are far from over. There is a magic in the air I have never encountered before."

"How's Carlie, B'wana Beast and The Flash?

J'onn looked at him. "B'wana Beast was the most emotionally damaged. He'll likely need some counseling after what he witnessed, but he has recovered some knowing Carlie is in our care now."

'Aside from a little dizziness, The Flash is fine. Apparently he's been experimenting with the speed force he accidentally discovered when he nearly died battling Lex Luthor and Braniac. He's developed a new way to use his powers. 'Speed lending', he calls it. I just hope he's being careful."

"As for Carlie, she's in extremely critical condition. Klarion forced Etrigan to hurt her. Even magical healing is having little effect. We're doing what we can."

The Batman looked at the ground and was silent for a moment. Carlie. She was the innocent in all of this. He looked at J'onn again. "Has anyone seen Etrigan?" The Batman said.

Dr. Fate shook his head. "Not yet, but I've asked Aztek to try and track him. Hopefully we'll find him soon. We did, however, find Klarion's remains."

The Batman raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"There is a black puddle of magically destabilized flesh near a tree near the Kaznian royal mansion. Klarion must have tried a desperate teleport spell and it, combined with the Nth metal and B'wana Beast's helmet's explosion, must have finished him."

"Are you sure he's gone?" The Batman said.

"I've checked the remains myself, but with magic you never can tell."

The Batman was about to say something, but J'onn spoke first. "Before you ask, neither Dr. Fate nor I have had any luck locating this Chimera. Our magic and mental scans of the globe have found nothing. The Watch Tower sensors cannot detect her either."

The Batman's eyes narrowed. He put his hands under his cape for a moment. When they came out he was holding Morgan Le Fay's branding iron and the piece of B'wana Beast's helmet he had recovered. "Will these help?" The Batman said.

Dr. Fate took the artifacts from The Batman and looked at them. "Perhaps. I will return to my tower and attempt a locater spell with them immediately."

"Good luck," The Batman said. Dr. Fate nodded. He opened a brilliant ankh-shaped portal around his body, and he disappeared when it sealed.

J'onn opened his mouth to say something, but The Batman spoke first. "Before you ask, the answer is no. I didn't get a chance to talk to her or Huntress. To be honest, if I had had the chance, I'm not sure what I'd say."

J'onn was silent.

The Batman spoke again. "Anyway, we have more important things to worry about. "Has Superman returned from planet Draaga yet? Maybe he can help us find Chimera."

J'onn shook his head. "No, and he hasn't called in yet either."

The Batman started walking. "Com'on, Let's go see if we can call him."

X X X

A little earlier…

Lois Lane shook her head. Never in her life had she felt such pain. She wasn't completely sure what had happened. The last thing she remembered was being in her room at the Kaznian Mansion preparing for an interview with Queen Audrey when the whole place started to melt like cheese in a microwave. And then, before she knew it, her room was liquid and she was sucked down into it.

Lois looked around. Her body ached a little, but the warm sun on her face was making her forget the pain. She was happy to be alive. She looked and saw the Kaznian royal mansion in the distance. All around her, men, women, and children were coming to their senses the same as she was. Lois slowly got to her feet, straightened her clothes and hair with her hands as best she could, and then took a few steps. Her head was really starting to clear now. She decided she would get back to the mansion, get to a phone, call the Daily Planet, and tell them everything she knew about what happened.

Lois had been walking for about a minute when she noticed a well-dressed teenage boy sitting with his legs akimbo against a tree. He looked as if he had just been dumped there. Lois moved closer and saw his face and clothes were badly burned like something hot had exploded right in front of him. She walked over and couched down in front of him. "Hey, wake up," she said. The teen did not move. "Lois put a hand on his neck. There was a pulse. "Hey, kidAAAAAAAHH! The teen's right hand had suddenly shot out from its place on the ground and seized Lois's wrist. The teen's hand and eyes crackled with green energy and then, suddenly, that energy raced inside Lois. She felt the power inside her. It was like a lightning storm in her brain. She was overwhelmed. Everything around her started spinning, and then she passed out.

Klarion stood and looked down at his old body as it melted into a black puddle of black gunk. He was angry to leave it, but he had had no choice. No medicine or magic could have repaired the damage the destruction of B'wana Beast's helmet had done to it. The Helmet and his body were both horrible, unforeseen, but necessary sacrifices. At least he was alive. He just hoped the helmet's explosion had destroyed a few of those Justice League heroes, especially the accursed Batman.

Klarion took a deep breath, exahaled, and then looked over the body he had usurped. It felt weird being in a grown woman's body, but he had not been in any condition to choose his vessel. Fortunately, if this woman was not someone useful, he could transfer himself to another more useful body as soon as one was within range. Klarion started to go through the woman's memories and, after amoment, he gasped. His eyes started to grow wider and wider with amazement at each memory. Klarion could not help himself. He started laughing and laughing and laughing. It was not his voice doing the laughing, it was Lois's but he was too overjoyed for it to bother him.

A Kaznian man and his wife and son were walking nearby. They stopped and looked at Klarion. "Hey, lady, are you okay?" the man said in broken English.

Klarion looked at the man through Lois' eyes. "What? Oh yes! I'm just so happy to be alive." The couple and their son gave Klarion an odd look and then continued walking. Klarion watched the couple go. He was about to start walking himself when something rubbed against his ankles. Klarion looked down and saw a brown cat purring at his feet. "Teek'l!" Klarion held out his arms and the brown cat jumped into them. "Come, Teek'l. We have much to do. Yes, much to do, indeed."

X X X

Somewhere…

She sighed and shook her head. Her shiny shoulder-length red hair fell around her, face. "You just had to bring her into this, didn't you? You couldn't just let her walk away, could you?"

He put a fist in the air with such force, he floated off the ground and his little bowler hat fell off his big bald head. "Yes! Because with her in this that means **he'll** be in this!" he said triumphantly. He looked at her expecting her to share his happiness. She was not impressed. He cleared his throat as he adjusted his green bow tie on his little neck. He dusted down his blue suit on his little body with his hands, and then made his hat disappear and re-appear back on his head. He kept floating in the air.

"When did this become all about what you want?" she said.

"Reeelax, babe!" He gestured to the TV in front of them where Klarion in Lois' body was still walking along. "Trust me! When we put my guy together with your guy, and mix in a little more of our fifth-dimension magic, we'll have this world's finest fun!"

She sighed again. "You're obsessed, Mxy," she said.

Mr. Mxyzsptlk looked at his wife Gsptlsnz, a woman twice his height with a figure that would make an hourglass envious. He floated up beside her face and gave her a kiss on the cheek. The kiss tickled, and it made her look sideways at him and smile. "I love you too, Gspy. I love you too." He made the TV remote appear in his hand, and he changed channels. "And awaaaaay we go!"

The End of Book One


End file.
